Sparkle, Soar, Shift
by findingmymuse
Summary: 3rd in the Maxlight series. Read the other two first! The Flock, Nessie, and imprinted wolves are back at school and happy with their strange new lives. Even Iggy has adapted. But could a blast from the Flock's past ruin everything and endanger them all?
1. AN: Sorry

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephanie or James. Enough said. I'm tired of everyone going on and on about their disclaimer, even though I'm guilty of that too. Reviews are welcome : )**

**YOU SHOULD READ MAXLIGHT AND RUN, FLY, PHASE FIRST!!!! IT'LL MAKE MORE SENSE! **

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW:

Three years after MAX. Ages: Angel-11. Gasman-13 Nudge-14 Iggy-16 ½. Fang-17. Max-17 ½. (Gaz and Ange just had birthdays for those of you who will notice the change in age)

Five years after Breaking Dawn; ages: Nessie-6 ½ (looks about 17), Brady & Collin-18 (14), Seth-20 (15), Jake-21 (17), Leah- 24 (18), Embry-23 (18)

-Seth imprinted on Angel; Leah and Embry imprinted on each other by force

-Max and Fang & Iggy and Nudge are dating; Nessie and Jacob are engaged

-Nessie bit Fang (he's her singsong) and he and Max can now FEEL each other's feelings.

-Edward has all the same mind powers as Angel

-Alice can see the wolves by looking for blank spots in everyone's futures; she can see Bex the same way she does Nessie…very fuzzy

-Iggy was changed during the Volturi attack. He's now 2% bird, 48% human, & 50% vampire (his bird blood saved him from changing completely but moved too quickly to allow him to be saved); he is pretty much like Nessie but he has his wings still and got his sight completely back

NEW CHARACTERS

-Rebecca Sarah Cullen "Bex" is the result of Nauhel kidnapping Nessie and Max and injecting Ness with sperm (Volturi sent him to create a Double Hybrid); she grows faster than Nessie did as a baby & looks like a darker skinned version of her mom

-Layla Morris & Jenny Flapdoodle are friends from Forks High School (its not really important that you know this, I just thought I'd mention it because I love their names and I'm thinking of developing their characters a little)

**AN: Okay, so this wasn't actually a chapter and I'm sorry to those who were looking forward to it, but I need to decide what's going to happen before I jump into a chapter. Review if you have any ideas that are relatively unique. Much appreciated : )**


	2. Cinderella

Chapter One

Nessie's POV

Life seemed to be attacking me all at once lately.

High school was proving to be more difficult than I expected, especially since I had missed two months of the school year due to things out of my control. Max seemed to be just as far behind, though Jake and Angel seemed to have adjusted better than we did.

Another thing that was concerning me was my sweet little baby. Bex was growing like crazy and I was worried about my daughter's life. She was officially a month old even though she looked like she was three. Her growth patterns were nothing like mine were and no one could offer me any comfort about it.

On top of all of that, Alice had been driving me crazy with wedding preparations all week and I was near ready to strangle my favorite aunt. I never knew the most magical day of my life was going to also be the most chaotic one. I was half tempted to just hop in a car with Jake and elope, but the stupid psychic would know before I got the keys in the ignition.

Speak of the devil. "Ness, you have two seconds to get out here before I come in there after you!" I heard Alice say from the other side of my bathroom door.

I was trying on dress after dress for the ceremony in two weeks. I've picked out three that I particularly like, but none of them have pleased my perfectionist of an aunt.

"I'm almost done." I yelled back, "hold your horses…"

I heard several snickers from the other side of the door and could recognize the female Flock members by their human laughter.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, I heard various gasps and a few choked sobs coming from my female vampire relatives.

The pure white dress was sleeveless and covered my cleavage while still showing off that I had some. The dress flowed to my ankles, getting wider from the waist down in a way that slimmed me while still giving me the southern belle look. There were random flower designs in the white lace that were simple yet classy.

My hair was pulled back into a ponytail and the most expensive veil imaginable fitted around it. A small tiara sat on the top of my brown-red hair in front of the veil. It sparkled in the light the way my skin did in the sunlight and I smiled at the comparison.

"Oh, Nessie, you look so beautiful." Esme gushed, her hand on her mouth as if she might start crying even though I knew she never would.

"Oh, my, gosh!" Nudge exclaimed and I could already feel a headache coming on. "You look like a princess Nessie. Like from that fairytale that Anne read to us in Virginia…what was it? Cindyraila? No, um, something about ashes…cinders, maybe. Oh, yeah, that was it. Cinderella."

I gave her a weak smile and she added, "You look just like a pretty princess and Jake will love it." I blushed bright red as I thought about how much I hoped that last part was true. His opinion was the only one that really mattered to me in the end.

"She's right, Ness." Rosalie murmured. "Your mutt won't be able to keep his paws off you in that dress."

I blushed as I heard a hiss from downstairs where the boys were. Apparently Daddy was listening to that comment.

"It really is the perfect gown." Alice commented, giving me a quick once over and motioned with her pointer finger for me to spin in a circle so she could get a better look. "But we'll have to change the hairstyle. Its all wrong with the tiara."

I pulled my hair out of the ponytail and let it fall onto my shoulders. Alice started fluffing it and teasing it and straightening it and brushing it all out again. I had a feeling that this was going to be a long night.

"My baby…all grown up." Bella said, her non watering eyes restricting her from expressing her emotion fully.

"You look really pretty Nessie." Angel piped up and I glanced at Max for confirmation. She was the only one I hadn't heard from.

"What do you think Max?" I asked hesitantly.

Since Bex's birth, Max hasn't really been as close to me as we were when Nauhel and Huilen had us held hostage. I missed that. Max was my first official semi-human friend and I was sad that I seemed to be loosing her.

"It…its perfect." Max said, glancing at my dress again. "You look just like a bride."

"Thanks." I said, blushing deep scarlet again. "I hope Jake likes it."

"He will." Edward said from outside the door.

"Don't you dare peek at the dress, Daddy!" I wined even though I knew it was probably already too late. It was hard to keep anything from the mind readers.

Edward chuckled, "Sorry, sweetie but it's a little too late for that warning." He said as he slipped into my bedroom, careful not to let anyone else see into the room.

He kissed Bella on the lips in greeting and smiled at me. "You look gorgeous Renesme." He commented. "Who would have thought that my six year old daughter would be getting married and already have a beautiful daughter of her own?"

I blushed again and tried not to correct him. Though I was six and a half, I looked almost eighteen.

"Done!" Alice exclaimed and I looked at her in shock. I had almost forgotten that she had been working on my hair this whole time.

She pushed me back into the bathroom so I could look at myself in the full length mirror and smiled triumphantly when I gasped.

My usual curly hair was straightened in random places on top while the ringlets were still in tack beneath them in a way that made me look more mature than my seventeen year old body already did.

The veil flowed behind it and it was pulled slightly tighter than I had placed it before and the tiara sparkled even more in the bathroom lighting.

"You are a genius Aunt Alice!" I exclaimed and wrapped my arms around her small body.

"No need to thank me yet," she said with a twinkle in her eye. Uh-oh, I knew that look.


	3. Jealousy and Questions

Chapter Two

Max's POV

I stared at Nessie in her wedding gown and wanted nothing more than for it to be me in the gown. No, I wasn't having a princess crisis, I wanted to get married.

Not with Jacob of course because he was hers, but maybe, someday, with Fang.

The second I thought that, Angel smiled at me hugely, her eyes wide. I could tell she was already picturing it in her head.

Alice glanced at the two of us from the side of Nessie's face where she was curling her already curly hair and grinned. The pixie must have seen a wedding in my future because Angel thought I had decided it.

_He probably doesn't even think the same way, Angel. I think Fang is probably just content staying dating…and so am I. _I thought to her before she could get her hopes up. _Besides, we aren't eighteen yet and its illegal. _

_Nessie isn't eighteen. _Angel replied back smugly. _And she's getting married. _

_Nessie is different though. Her whole childhood and adolescence was six years. She is technically an adult. _I explained. _And don't you dare tell anyone about this Angel or I'll forbid you to see Seth. _

I knew it was low to threaten that, especially how much it would hurt Seth as well, but I needed to get my point across. Imprint or no imprint, Angel was still in my Flock.

_I think you are overreacting, Max. _Angel said sourly. _Besides, you'll be eighteen tomorrow and Fang is only four months later. You could totally get married then. Or actually, you could get married right now if you flew to New Hampshire._

_Not that again. Just drop it, Angel. Please? _I thought back to her.

She nodded her head and I sighed. I don't know why the thought disappointed me so much.

Nessie started talking to everyone and her eyes landed on mine. "What do you think Max?"

"It…its perfect." I said, glancing at her dress again and wishing I had one as pretty or even that I looked as good as she did in it. "You look just like a bride."

When Edward entered the room, I took it as an easy escape. I ducked out into the hall and ran right into someone. I looked up to see Fang towering above me. His eyes met mine and he smirked when I blushed.

"Um, Max?" He said hesitantly and I was lost in his dark eyes.

"Yeah?" I whispered back breathlessly.

"You're standing on my foot." He said lightly and I recoiled. Ugh, did he not know that we were in the middle of a moment? Boys are so stupid sometimes.

"You're a jerk, Fang." I scowled as I headed towards the stairs. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him.

"Where are you going to in such a hurry?" He asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Away from you, that's where." I replied smugly. "I think I might go find Iggy…"

Fang growled, and I smiled knowing full well that I was pushing his buttons. I didn't care, I needed Fang to quit playing around and take our relationship seriously.

"You will do no such thing." Fang growled again and pined me against the wall behind us. "You are mine, remember?" He asked, referring to when we finally admitted that we loved each other.

"You're hurting my wrist." I whined when he didn't release me. I had never seen this side of him. I have to admit that even _I_ was scared. Fang had never used his strength against me and I felt extremely guilty for pushing him this far.

"Sorry." He apologized but didn't release me fully, only so where he wasn't hurting me anymore.

I whimpered and his eyes softened. "I just can't take this anymore, Max. Either you love me or you don't. You can't keep switching back and forth anymore. So which one is it?"

"Fang, of course I love you." I said, meeting his eyes so he'd know I was being serious. "Its just that you don't act like it most of the time and I…"

He cut me off by pushing his lips against mine. I responded eagerly, my lips moving against his as his tongue slipped into my mouth. Oh, god. The boy was going to be the death of me. Although, if this was how I'd die, I think I'd be okay with it.

When we finally couldn't breathe any longer (which was quite some time later due to our air sacs), we pulled apart breathlessly and he rested his forehead on mine.

"How's that for showing you how much I love you?" He asked and I just nodded, still in my own world from that kiss.

"Fang, what do you see in our future?" I asked hesitantly. "I mean, you do see us having a future together right?"

"Max, I want forever with you." Fang admitted with a slight blush. Few things could make Fang blush but I was happy that I was one of them. "If you want me that long that is…"

That was all I needed and I knew. Suddenly all my previous opinions flew out the window. This was going to be one of those snap decisions that either brought me endless happiness or total rejection and shame.

I didn't recognize my own voice when I asked, "Fang…will you marry me?"


	4. Vision

Chapter Three

Alice's POV

I smiled as the vision flashed across my eyes.

_Max and Fang are standing at the front of a rundown church with her hand in his. A tall preacher is going on and on about faithfulness and how this is not something that can be undone. (Apparently, he's never heard of divorce.) _

_Max is dressed in a white t-shirt that fits her curves, whitewash jeans, and her ever popular black combat boots. Fang is in his usual attire of all black; black button down, black jeans, and black sneakers. Although he has a white bowtie that shows that he is dressed up for the occasion. _

Edward glanced at me, eyebrows raised. He obviously hadn't been paying attention to the oldest Flock members recently. Though, I have to admit, I expected Fang to be the one to propose, I was still happy that he said yes when Max asked.

_I didn't see that one coming. _Edward thought to me. He had gotten much better at his mental abilities with Angel around to help him. It was kind of funny that a one hundred and eighteen year old was getting advice from an eleven year old.

_You know I can't let that happen. At least not like that. _I thought back. In my mind I showed him my plans for Max and Fang's wedding. It was relatively similar to Nessie and Jake's but with a different color scheme.

_Max won't want you to make a spectacle out of it. That's why you had a vision of them in a rundown church with casual clothes. They don't want anything more than that. _Edward tried to advise me, but my thoughts had already come up with the perfect dress for Max.

_We'll see about that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to Nessie. _I thought, dismissing the conversation.

I found Nessie in her closet, her beautiful wedding dress on the hanger, as she was pulling her pale pink shirt over her head. She smiled at me as she smoothed it out over her jeans.

"Hey, Aunt Alice." She said lightly.

"Nessie…I have something to tell you and I don't want you to get upset." I said and I could hear her heartbeat accelerate.

"It…its not Jake is it? Oh, god. Is he hurt? Did you have a vision? Is he going to die? Please, Alice, don't try to shelter me. I can handle it. What's wrong?" She asked in a panic.

I shook my head to calm her fears before her imagination ran wild. I always said she was too creative for her own good.

"It's about Max." I said and she calmed down a little bit, though she still looked worried. "Well…she just proposed to Fang and I had a vision of them is some seedy hotel church exchanging vows and I just cannot stand by and let that happen."

Nessie giggled and rolled her eyes at me. "It seems to me that that's what they want. They have always been simple people and no amount of time living with us is going to change that."

"I just can't allow them to have such a tacky wedding. This is the day that they will always look back on; I cannot let it be a disaster." I said determinedly.

"Well, have you even asked them what they want?" Nessie asked, her eyes landing on her perfect gown.

"I know that Max wants a Princess gown." I said matter-of-factly.

Nessie giggled. "Now that I can't see."

"You didn't see the way she was staring at your dress." I replied. "I swear, some people around here need to start paying attention."

"Well, leave Max and Fang out of your war path. Max wouldn't want to make a spectacle out of this." Nessie said and I was reminded of the same words coming from a different person.

"Just like your father." I muttered. "Fine, but I won't promise anything. I want her day to be just as special as yours."

"Alice! You are a genius!" My beautiful niece exclaimed as she tried to rush out the door. She stopped in the middle of her room, leaving me still in the closet, and turned around.

"Thank you, sweetie. But what for?" I asked.

"A double wedding!" She said happily. "I have to go ask Max first of course, but it'll be wonderful! We already have everything for my wedding, just need a dress for Max and another tux for Fang. That way, they don't feel super pressured and I get to share my special day with my best friend."

"Oh, Nessie, it's a wonderful idea." I said and that was all the encouragement she needed. She darted out the door and towards Max's room before I would have been able to stop her if I wanted to.


	5. Wedding Part Uno

Chapter Four

Max's POV

I grimaced as Alice continued to primp me. How did I get roped into this?

_Flashback_

_I heard a soft knock on the door and pulled away from Fang's lips to yell, "come in!" _

_Fang grumbled something about "it better not be like this when we get married" and I couldn't help but laugh. He had been ecstatic when I proposed and was showing me just how much with an intense make-out session. Not that I minded…_

"_Max?" Nessie asked from the door, obviously hearing Fang's comment. "I'm not interrupting anything am I? I can come back later…" _

"_No, its fine." I said. "Fang was just going to check on the Flock." I gave him a pointed look and he sighed. He was about to get up when Nessie spoke up. _

"_I wanted to talk to both of you actually." She started and I could see the gleam in her eye. Lord help me if this was about a shopping trip._

"_Well, you know how Jake and I are getting married in two weeks and you guys are engaged? I was wondering if you wanted to do a double wedding." Nessie asked hesitantly._

"_We were planning on flying to Vegas." Fang admitted._

_Nessie giggled. "I know. Alice went ballistic when she had a vision of it…she won't back down on the whole wanting you to have an Alice Wedding, you know. So I thought it'd be easier on you guys if you just joined our wedding, or else Alice would make yours twice as huge as mine."_

"_Would she really do that? I mean, I was thinking a simple wedding." I said, even though I was still imagining how I'd look in Nessie's over the top princess dress._

"_You obviously don't know Alice." She said with a chuckle. "So what do you say? You guys in?"_

"_What does Jake think about this?" Fang asked._

"_I haven't told him about it. But I'm his imprint so he always says he'll do anything I want…not that I try to get my way that often, but still." She admitted._

_My eyes locked onto Fang's and I could practically hear the all clear coming from his unspoken words._

"_We're in." I agreed with a smile. "Let's get ourselves hitched!" _

_End Flashback_

"Quit whining Max. You are so much like Bella it isn't even funny." Alice commented and I saw the female vampires giggle.

Nessie was already ready and was just waiting for Edward and Jeb to come walk us down the isle. Since I was getting married and I wanted my mom here, I had to also tell my 'father.' Although, I think of him more as a sperm donor as of late. We weren't exactly on speaking terms since Ari's death.

I picked Nudge as my maid of honor, Angel as my flower girl, Gasman as ring barer, and Iggy as my best man.

Nessie chose Leah as her maid of honor, Bex as flower girl, Seth as ring barer, and Embry as best man.

Since we were combining the weddings, that meant Nudge and Embry were walking down together, Iggy and Leah, Bex and Gasman, and Angel with Seth. Needless to say, the last pair were the only ones who were happy about the arrangement.

A knock on the door signaled that it was time and I glanced at Alice for permission to get out of the chair. She had been putting the finishing touches on my hair for the last two hours. I think she liked to see me suffer.

"Only a little." Edward answered my thought as he and Jeb walked into the room.

I blushed when Jeb glanced at my dress approvingly. Even though I was still mad at him, I couldn't help but feel pleased.

The dress I was wearing was similar to Nessie's except mine had less 'princess' in it. The gown itself was a simple design; it had lace connecting the supposed to be sleeveless part and flowed to my knee instead of the grown like Nessie's. The ruffles at the bottom on Nessie's gown had been cut out so it didn't look ridicules, but the white lace had the same random flower design in it that hers did and probably twice the amount of glitter. On second thought, maybe our gowns were nothing alike.

I opted out of having the veil and just kept the tiara instead because I didn't like the way it itched whenever it touched the top of my wings.

Alice pulled my blonde-brown hair into a high ponytail and curled them. A few stray pieces fell loosely around both sides of my face. The tiara fit perfectly in front of the ponytail.

"Shall we?" Edward asked, grabbing Nessie's arm and looping it with his.

Bella, Rosalie, and Alice filed out of the room to go sit in the audience with the rest of the wolves (most of whom I've never met), Nessie's extended family (Renee, Phil, and Charlie), Jake's sisters Rachel and Rebecca, Billy, Sue, and of course my mom and Ella. Rumor has it that Ella even brought her steady boyfriend, Ryan.

"Max, you look beautiful." Jeb commented as he linked arms with me. I had to fight the urge to recoil away from him. I had to at least pretend to be civilized for my mom's sake.

"Thanks." I muttered, hating that my cheeks heated up at the compliment. I wanted so bad to be angry with Jeb, but nothing could ruin today; not even Jeb.

I heard the music start to drift from downstairs and sucked in a deep breath. Here goes nothing.


	6. Wedding Part Dos

Chapter Five

Nessie's POV

_Don't let me trip, Daddy. _I thought to him as I heard the music drift from downstairs. That was our cue to begin our descent.

Bex and the Gasman stepped in front, taking the steps two at a time even though they were supposed to be setting the pace for the rest of the bridal party. I could hear laughter from downstairs as they reached the bottom step. Angel and Seth walked down much more gracefully.

Iggy and Leah each had their faces facing the opposite direction of each other. I had to bite back a laugh. Their vampire and werewolf senses were making it hard for them to take the steps slowly and they parted the second they reached the front of the isle.

Nudge and Embry were more civilized, though it looked like Nudge was talking to herself in her head because her hair was bouncing from side to side. I had seen that look too many times before…usually after someone told her not to talk.

"I have you." Edward whispered, gently guiding me down the stairs.

Max and I had flipped a coin to see who would have to walk first and the traitorous quarter sided in Max's favor. Now, all eyes were on me as she waited upstairs.

I spotted Sue sitting with Charlie and Billy. Rachel was amongst the pack, mainly Paul, and Rebecca (who I have only met once) was on Billy's other side.

Renee and Phil were in the front, having been invited by Bella to see Edward's 'niece' get married. I saw Renee glance at me and Edward before flicking her eyes to Bella with horror.

"Don't worry about that." My father whispered, sensing my thoughts. I knew that he knew that I knew that Renee didn't believe I was his niece but I wasn't going to let that ruin my wedding.

I scanned the crowd, trying to see if I could recognize Max's family members. I saw a forty-something woman with dark hair and Max's eyes was sitting next to the slightly more Hispanic version of Max. Ella and Dr. Martinez.

A scrawny (compared to the wolves) boy with thick black hair, Hispanic skin tone, and brown almost black eyes was sitting next to Ella. He had his hand in hers and she had a constant blush on her face.

I reached the front of the alter just as Max was making her descent and I smiled at my Jacob. Edward placed my hands into Jake's and went to sit down next to the rest of the Cullens (besides Carlisle who was performing the ceremony.)

I could tell that the crowd was focused on Max and her father so I took the opportunity to give Jake a quick peck on the lips. He smiled at me even though I knew he wished we could continue.

Jeb placed Max's hands in Fang's and I momentarily wondered why Fang flinched. The thought left my mind as soon as Carlisle started to read the usual ceremony stuff. In all honesty, I wasn't paying one lick of attention even though I knew I probably should.

My mind was too focused on what I was going to say. All four of us had decided to write our own vows so it was going to be a giant tear fest when we were done.

Suddenly, the room was quiet and Jake squeezed my hands. "Your vows, Ness." He whispered, though most of the room heard and chuckled.

"Oh, yeah, um." Brilliant, no? I cleared my throat and started again. "Jacob William Black, from the moment I was born, I knew you were mine. As I grew, so did our relationship. Now I am very happy to get to call you my almost-husband because it means we'll have the rest of forever and no one can take you away from me."

Jacob looked like he had tears in his eyes, but it could have been the lighting. "Renesme Carlie Cullen, from the first time I laid eyes on you, I was hooked. It was love at first sight to the extreme in a way that startled me. You have no idea how much it means to me that you accepted my proposal. I have always wanted nothing but happiness for you and the fact that you are allowing me to be the one to bring you that joy is the greatest gift imaginable. I would walk through fire for you, Ness, and I can't wait to call you a Black."

I blushed as he said that and sent him a thousand 'I love you's with my gift.

Carlisle motioned for Fang and Max to exchange vows and I listened intently, even though I never once took my eyes off of Jake's.

"Nickolas Fang," Max began (using the legal name that we were putting on their marriage license even though they were taking Max's last name). "this mushy stuff is hard for me, but you should know how much I love you by now. Every time our family was separated, it was you that I missed. When we got in a tight bind, it was you that I wanted to have my back. I don't want to live without you, Fang, and there's no way that I ever could. You're a part of me."

"Maximum Ride, you are the most stubborn, hot headed woman on the planet. You're bossy and loud and always putting others' needs above your own even when it is incredibly stupid to do so…but that's why I love you." I heard Fang say and I blinked. He had never shown so much emotion before. "You are the best leader, friend, and girlfriend that I've ever had, but I can't wait to make you my wife so everyone will know that I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

"Nick and Jacob, do you take Max and Renesme to be your wives?" I heard my grandfather ask and Jake and Fang both said "I do" eagerly. Well Jacob sounded eager.

"Do you, Max and Renesme, take Nick and Jacob to be your husbands?" Carlisle asked and I heard Max say "I do" at the same time I did.

Before Carlisle could get the "you may now kiss the brides," Jake leaned in and captured me in a kiss. The crowd laughed at his eagerness and Carlisle just continued with the ceremony for Max and Fang's sake.

"I know pronounce you man and wife." Carlisle announced. "You may now kiss the brides."


	7. Confused

**AN: So this is technically a fluff chapter…but it's important :)**

Chapter Six

Ella's POV

I stared at my sister in awe as she pledged her life to Fang. The second the two couples quit kissing, which was quite some time later might I add, the whole room erupted in cheers.

I felt Ryan squeeze my hand and I turned to smile at him. We had been going out for almost two years now and I was completely in love with him. He says he feels the same way and I am over the moon about it.

He was a year older than me, but that didn't make that big of a difference to me. I was still sixteen so it wasn't illegal or anything. Besides, its not like I don't know that I'm going to marry him one day.

"Ella, babe, your sister is so hot." Ryan commented and I let it slide because he called everybody hot.

"Thanks, Ry." I said lightly and motioned for him to stand up so we could follow the newlyweds to the reception area.

Never in my life have I seen so many gorgeous guys in one place…well except for at A&F, but those people were paid to be there.

Mom gave me a 'how-could-you-let-that-boy-get-away-with-that' look. I just shook my head. She didn't understand our relationship and was always trying to make me break up with him, but I always refused.

I bumped elbows with half the grooms' side as I tried to make my way towards Max. "Sorry, sorry." I muttered as I continued to push past people. Most of the people got out of the way, but this one guy just wouldn't budge.

"Hey, buddy." I said, pushing my palm against his back. I hated being rude, but I knew that if I didn't get to Max soon, I wouldn't see her until after her honeymoon. "Do ya mind moving? I kinda gotta see the bride."

"Which one?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Max. She's my sister." I said with menace. "Now, could you move before I have to kick your butt?"

He turned to face me for the first time and I saw his eyes budge out of his head. An innocent smile spread across his face and I couldn't help but return it. This boy was c-u-t-e! He looked fifteen but I knew that he was older than that just by the way he carried himself. I don't know how Max got so lucky, to be surrounded by all of these gorgeous men.

Ryan stepped up when he saw the boy's expression. "I believe the lady asked you to move." His voice didn't have the usual charm and I frowned, hoping that the unidentified boy would speak instead.

"Sss-sorry." The boy stuttered beautifully, his eyes locking on to mine.

"I'm Ella Martinez. Max's half sister." I said, introducing myself even though I could tell that Ryan was getting impatient.

When I remembered him, I added his name too. "This is my _boyfriend_, Ryan Ricardo." I cringed when I said boyfriend even though I loved it when I got to introduce him as that.

The boy chuckled, noticing my hesitation and stuck his hand out for me to shake. "My name is Collin Brown." He said and my heart nearly stopped when I felt his warm hand grasp mine.

"Ella." I said nervously, my cheeks heating up as he didn't let go of my hand.

"You already said that." Collin said with a light hearted laugh, his gaze still fixed on mine as he released my hand from his grasp. "Would you mind if I helped you locate your sister? I was on my way to find the brides myself before you caught my attention."

He winked and I blushed even more. I was just thankful for my Hispanic heritage or else he would be able to tell the difference in my cheeks.

"Sure. That would be very helpful." I agreed and he grabbed my hand again and started pulling me in the direction that I had been heading in the first place.

Ryan followed behind, trying to grab my other hand but I pretended to fix my hair and ran it through my long brown hair instead.

I spotted Fang before I saw Max, but I ran over to them nonetheless. My brother-in-law (it sounded so weird to call him that) eyed my hand locked in Collin's and the angry look on Ryan's face before raising an eyebrow. That was Fang Code for 'what-in-the-world-are-you-doing-holding-someone's-hand-that-isn't-your-boyfriend's.'

"Ellaaaaaaa!" Max screamed when she saw me and I wrapped her into a hug, regrettably letting go of Collin's hand as I did so.

"Maaaaax!" I responded and giggled into her ear. We were like twelve year old girls whenever we had been separated for a while.

"Hey Collin." Max said lightly when we unhooked our limbs from around each other. She spotted Ryan and raised her eyebrows suggestively. "And who's this?"

"Um…Ryan Ricardo." I said feeling physically cold without Collin's hand in mine.

"So this is the boyfriend you've been telling me so much about?" Max asked. Three things happened simultaneously; Collin growled, my face paled, and Fang shot her a 'can't-you-see-it's-complicated' look.

"Um…yeah. This is him." I said weakly and I could feel Collin shaking against the back of my arm.

All of a sudden, Jake, the other groom, appeared out of no where and dragged Collin outside. Two other similar looking Native Americans followed them outside; grave looks on their faces.

Renesme joined our little circle along with the man who walked her down the isle. They both stared out the door and then back at me curiously.

I whimpered when I couldn't see Collin anymore and our little group took notice. Ryan wrapped his arms around me to comfort me, thinking I was being emotional 'casue it was my time of the month, and I leaned into him.

"Where'd they take him?" I asked Max in a clingy voice that I didn't recognize.

Edward whispered something and the newlywed Flock members snapped their heads to look in my direction. Stupid Avian hearing. Sometimes I wished that the School had taken me too, just so I would be equal to them for once.

Fang turned to Ryan and spoke slightly louder than he usually did. "Can you go find Dr. Martinez? Max wants to see her before we leave? Please? I'll watch Ella for you while you're gone."

That last sentence seemed to be what convinced him to go find my mom. Ryan glanced at me nervously, kissed my cheek, and darted off back into the crowd. I didn't even watch him go.

"Ella, there is something we have to tell you." Max said hesitantly, glancing at Edward for approval. "But not now…can you do something for me? Promise me that you won't leave Forks until after we get back from our honeymoon."

"Sure." I agreed easily, not even caring that I would have to explain this to our mother. Anything to stick around and see Collin.

**There you have it. Collin imprinted on ****Ella. Can you say 'awww.' That means she's sticking around :) **


	8. Brokenhearted

Chapter Seven

Jake's POV

The second I saw Collin start to shake, I pulled him outside. The last thing we needed was for him to phase in front of all these people, especially since he was standing so close to Max's sister.

Seth and Embry followed behind me, flanking my sides as Collin continued to shake. We were in the woods before any of the guests would have had the chance to see us.

Collin's fur erupted from his skin and in a split second, the giant brown wolf was facing me.

"Jake, calm him down." Seth advised. "You're his Alpha so he has to listen to you." Embry nodded in agreement and I sighed

"You guys so owe me. This is my wedding day!" I complained as I started stripping. Its not like the other guys hadn't already seen everything so I didn't bother to cover myself.

As soon as my clothes were a safe distance away from me (Alice would kill me if I ruined her tux), I phased and let the werewolf genes take over. I was on four legs in no time.

_Got to go help Ella. She needs me. She doesn't love him. Got to go help Ella…_Collin's thoughts looped back around for a good minute before I had to put a stop to this. I had seen more images of their five minute encounter than I probably should in a lifetime.

_Calm down. Ella is fine. She's with Max, Fang, and Nessie right now. _I said in a stern voice, not wanting to go full Alpha if I didn't have to.

_Is Ryan still with her?_ Collin whined in my head and I had to laugh. I'm so glad Nessie never showed any guys attention before we officially got together, I would probably kill the boys who tried.

_See? Even you would have killed them! _Collin argued and my mind filled with a dozen images of Ryan lying dead on the floor. _He doesn't treat her right! Let me tell her. I have to tell her that she's meant for me. Please Jake?_

_You want to tell her about imprinting and werewolves on her first day here? _I asked and he nodded despite my sarcastic logic.

_I'm sorry Collin, but you are not allowed to tell her until the reception is over. _I commanded and he whimpered under the authority. _I will not have you ruining the weddings. _

We both phased back and I was glad to see that Seth had run inside to fetch a new outfit for Collin from Alice. The psychic always knew which wolf would show up naked and had a steady amount of clothes ready for us.

I put on my tux again, leaving the bowtie undone and just loosely hanging around the collar. I didn't have time to fix it because I needed to see my Nessie.

The four of us walked into the house and went to find our imprints. Seth spotted Angel walking around with Nudge; Embry saw Leah chatting it up with Sue; and Collin and I walked back to where Max, Fang, Nessie, and Ella were.

I couldn't see that Ryan kid anywhere but what I did see made my heart soar. Nessie was looking at me with lust driven eyes and I had to nearly do a double take. This was new.

_You look so hot. You know that, right? _She sent to me with her power and I gulped.

Nessie wasn't the only one who was happy to see her wolf. Ella's entire face lit up in a smile when she spotted Collin. His was just as welcoming and I had to give him a glare so he would remember what I ordered him.

He stopped a foot short of Ella and she frowned. It took Collin half a second to realize what his imprint wanted and he stepped closer to her. She wrapped her tiny (compared to him) arms around his waist and he breathed in her scent. That last part was a werewolf thing.

They continued to hug, neither one of them wanting to let go, when we heard a gasp from behind us. I turned to see that Ryan kid and Dr. Martinez staring at the two with wide eyes. Well, Dr. Martinez's were wide, Ryan's were angry.

"I leave you alone for two minutes and you're all over this guy?" Ryan seethed, pointing an angry finger at Ella. "What kind of girl are you? I thought you were this sweet, innocent girl but now I can see that you're nothing more than a slu-"

Collin growled, pushing Ella behind him protectively as he advanced towards Ryan. "Don't you even finish that sentence, boy, or I'll rip you a new one! If I hear you say one bad thing about Ella, I swear I'll kill you." He threatened and Ryan gulped nervously.

"She's my girlfriend!" Ryan stated when Collin turned back around. Just like a coward to only make an advance when the enemy has his back towards you.

"Was." Ella spoke up from behind Collin's tall frame. She stuck her head around his muscled arm and frowned. "I'm sorry, Ry, but my mom was right about you. You're nothing but rude to me and I'm sorry its taken me this long to realize that."

"But…you can't break up with me!" Ryan said, reaching forward and grabbing Ella's arm possessively.

Collin didn't even hesitate, the second Ryan touched Ella, he pulled back his arm and hit Ryan square in the jaw. The entire room silenced (besides the humans who couldn't hear the crack) and all eyes were on our little group.

"Touch her again." Collin growled, his body starting to shake again. Before I could pull him out of the way, Ella reached her hands around and placed them on either side of his face.

"Shh. Calm down, it'll be okay. He won't do anything to me, I promise." Ella said soothingly. "His bark is worse than his bite." She said jokingly and the werewolves and vampires in the room had trouble hiding their laughter.

Collin stopped shaking and Dr. Martinez looked at the two of them and then Ryan laying on the floor clutching his jaw. "Can someone please explain this?" She asked, gesturing towards the three of them.

"Later, Mom." Max said, glancing at Alice for the cue. "But right now, I think its time to get this party started!"


	9. Unexpected

Chapter Eight

Max's POV

"I love you, Max." Fang whispered into my ear as he twirled me around on the dance floor. Alice had demanded that the two of us take dancing lessons (which I was now thankful for when I glanced over at the other couple on the floor.)

Jake and Nessie were beside us, flowing gracefully with the movement of the song. Needless to say, they made our dancing look like child's play as they glided across the floor.

"When did you get so confident about saying 'love'?" I murmured against his neck, FEELING the truth behind his declaration even though I already knew it was true.

"Since you said 'I do.'" Fang responded quietly, still leading me across the floor.

It was our first dance as husband and wife…the words sounded so foreign that I had to pause my thoughts. I was a wife. _Fang_'s wife. Fang was my husband and I was his wife.

A huge smile threatened to explode on my face as my lips tugged upwards at the thought. Fang noticed and a small smile lit up his face.

"What is it?" Fang asked, chuckling quietly when I stepped on his foot…again.

"I…uh…I just realized that we're actually married." At that, Fang burst out laughing, which for Fang was a huge display, and Nessie turned to see what was so funny which caused Jake to nearly trip. By now, everyone was watching us.

"See what you caused?" I muttered to my husband…which caused me to smile again.

"You're adorable, you know that, right?" Fang whispered uncharacteristically, causing me to blush.

"All couples to the dance floor. Lets get this party started!" A voice announced over the DJ. It sounded an awful lot like a certain psychic and I was glad for the distraction. Thank you, Alice.

I spotted Angel leading an extremely happy Seth onto the dance floor, followed by Leah and Embry, Quil and Claire, Nudge and Iggy, Ella and Collin, Bella and-wait, Ella and Collin?

"He imprinted, didn't he?" I asked Jake when Fang spun us closer to the other newlyweds. "Collin?"

Jake turned to Nessie for a brief second before nodding. "I told the pack not to tell anyone until after the reception 'cause I didn't want to spoil this."

Nessie laughed. "I think he's just being paranoid. Ryan already left, so there won't be any more problems with the situation…other than the wolf thing, when Ella finds out."

My face drained. This wasn't what I wanted. I moved the Flock out of my mom's house for this very reason. I didn't want the supernatural (myself included) to get in the way of my sister's normal, human life. She had a chance that the rest of us never would and now she would never get to experience it.

"She'll be fine. Ella has always wanted to be closer to us…now she is." Fang tried to reassure me but it was only partially working. "The second she met us, she never wanted normal. You and I both knew it."

"Max!" Gasman yelled as he tugged Bex behind him. The two seemed to be the only ones who didn't have dance partners. The 'three year old' looked impatient as she tugged on his pant leg for the third time.

"What is it, sweetie?" I heard Nessie ask her daughter at the same time Gazzy started to try to explain whatever it was that he wanted to tell me. He was making crazy hand gestures and rambling on until finally, Fang asked him what he was talking about.

"Bex!" Gazzy said finally, pointing at the little girl. He seemed to be thinking before he spoke again. "We were sitting on the sidelines, you know watching and stuff, when she started drawing on her napkin…"

Gasman reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper doll that looked like it had been cut from the fancy napkin cloth. What he did next shocked me; he dropped the doll into my hand and backed away a few feet.

Bex was staring at the doll in my hands with worry as she reached for it with her tiny hands. "She's mine!" Bex stated and started pulling at the bottom of my dress. "She won't last long. Please? She's mine."

I moved to hand the cloth doll back to the toddler when Fang stopped me. "Do you hear that?" He asked and brought my hand up to our faces.

"Let me go. My master wishes for me. Let me go." A faint voice 'yelled.'

All four of the newlyweds stared at the doll in shock as she started to get more animated. Glancing closer at it, I noticed that the drawing was not only more real looking than a high priced Barbie doll, but she also was moving around on my hand ever so slightly and yelling up a storm.

"Rebecca, did you make your doll talk…and move?" Jacob asked, pulling the little girl up on his hip while his other hand remained around Nessie's waist.

"I had to!" Bex replied. "I was so bored and I knew that Dolly would keep me company like usual…he," she pointed an angry finger at Gazzy, "stole her and now her time is almost up." Bex was pouting when I handed the limp cloth doll back to her.

"How often do you play with Dolly?" Nessie asked, trying to figure out when her daughter developed a power.

Bex shrugged. "Angel let me color one day and Dolly started talking to us. She didn't seem mean so Angel said I could keep her. But ten minutes later, I had to re-draw her because she quit moving…"

Bex frowned. "Am I not supposed to, Daddy?" She asked Jake who had a worried expression on his face.

"No, no. Its just new is all." Jake said smoothly. He eyed Gazzy. "You guys run along and play now, okay?"

The kids took off into the crowd just as the Macarena started to play. Angel met my eyes and motioned for Fang and me to join her in front of the other dancers. Dear Lord, help me.


	10. We All Saw This Coming

Chapter Nine

Angel's POV

"When are Mommy and Daddy coming back?" Bex whined, glancing at the front door for the millionth time since the newlyweds left for their separate honeymoons two weeks ago.

Max and Fang had flown via wings to the Treetop Resort in Canada as a way of being incredibly ironic while paying a thousand bucks a night to sleep in tree beds. Max had actually picked the place when she found it accidentally online.

Jacob and Renesme chose to continue with the long tradition of honeymooning on Esme Island. All of her relatives had honeymooned there at one point or another in the last hundred years.

Nessie thought it was romantic to stay at the place where she was conceived. I know from her mind that she secretly hoped that she would be just as lucky in the baby making department if they stayed there.

"They'll be back before you know it." I answered again. This was getting repetitive and I was starting to get annoyed.

"Why don't you go play with Gazzy and Dolly?" I asked and her face lit up. My brother seemed to be the only one who tolerated her all day games with her animated paper doll.

Once she scurried out of the room, her four year old body nearly tripping on the carpet, I rolled my eyes at Seth. "That girl will be the death of me." I muttered and he laughed.

"What's so funny?" I asked, not really angry anymore. Something about my Seth's laughter always calmed me from one of my moods.

"You." He said with another laugh. "Eleven years old and yet so old. Pretty soon, I'll have to visit you at a nursing home, Grandma." He teased and I spit my tongue out at him.

"Ha, ha. Such a comedian, Sethy. Really, you should go into stand up." I teased back. "Besides, you'd be right beside me in the nursing home, Gramps."

"I'd like that." Seth said with a blush. Imprinting was something that I was still trying to figure out. I knew that my Seth didn't think anything about me other than sisterly love, yet I couldn't stop the butterflies in my stomach as he talked about our future.

"Guys!" I heard Nudge yell from the first floor even though everyone could hear her if she whispered. "They're back!"

That got my attention, I flew (literally) down the stairs while Seth took the stairs three at a time with his massively long legs. Gasman and Bex were right behind us and I could see that the rest of the Cullen's were already downstairs. Stupid vampire speed.

"Actually, Alice told us a minute ago that she was starting to lose her vision." Edward spoke up and I frowned. I still wasn't comfortable with someone in my head when I wasn't projecting to them. "Sorry."

"Its okay. We're all here now. Who's outside?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Max and Fang…but they're in a rented car. That's odd, don't you think? I mean, they flew so why would they want to drive. I guess they got bored or tired. I get tired easily when I fly sometimes so that's probably what happened and…" Iggy cut Nudge off from her rant by covering her mouth with his hand.

"Ow!" Iggy yelped and withdrew his hand. He shook it out as he glared at his girlfriend. "You didn't have to bite me. You could have just told me to remove my hand."

"You were covering my mouth, so I couldn't talk." Nudge replied smugly.

"Yeah, yeah." Iggy mumbled.

Edward and I had the privilege to get in the couple's minds so we knew the secret before any of us reached the front door. But Max put a stop to our enjoyment of the secret when she threatened us in our minds.

_Angel, Edward, if either of you tells the others, I'll personally kick your butts 'til next Thursday. _Max threatened in her mind.

_Yeah, like she could in her condition. And I highly doubt Fang would beat me up. _I thought to myself but held my tongue nonetheless.

We had reached the front lawn and were watching as Fang jumped out of the driver's side and walked around to open the door for his wife like a gentleman. The second he stepped out of the way and everyone could get a clear view of Max, a chorus of gasps were heard around me.

Max was huge. She had a rounded belly that would have shot out from under her comfortable outfit that she had packed. Instead, she was covered by one of Fang's black t-shirts that fit snuggly around her stomach and swelling breasts. She was obviously not going to have a normal nine month pregnancy, but really, who was expecting that anyway? We're 2% bird and we healed insanely fast.

Emmett chuckled as he stared at Max's belly. "Well that explains the extra heartbeat."

Rosalie looked blissfully happy as well as Nudge, Bella, and Esme. Alice had a frown on her face but that was probably because she couldn't see the new baby's future.

"Max…Max, you're pregnant." Nudge stuttered and our fearless leader blushed. "Like, really pregnant. Are you sure you're only two weeks along? Well, two weeks would mean you got pregnant immediately. Did you? But then why are you so huge? Are you gonna be like Nessie?"

"Congratulations, guys." Edward said with a vampire sob. From his mind, I knew he was comparing Max's pregnancy size to Bella's rapid growth. He was scared for my sister as well as most of the other vampires.

The Flock seemed less scared. They had only seen Nessie's easy, mostly normal human birth. They didn't even jump to where my mind was taking me. This baby was going to be more than just 2% avian and less than 98% human like we were. The odds that the kid was going to be even slightly normal were so slim that I didn't even want to bother and do the math.

I didn't let anyone know these facts though. Wouldn't want to ruin the happy announcement with the terrifying future that was surely to come.


	11. Coming Home

Chapter Ten

Jacob's POV

I sighed as Nessie locked herself in the bathroom again. Every morning, after a sleepless night on both our parts, she'd take her time with the pregnancy tests. So far they have all been negative, but today was our last day on Esme Island so Nessie was extremely hopeful.

Judging by how long she's been in there now told me that it was another negative result.

"Ness? Please open the door, sweetie." I said calmly, knocking lightly on the unlocked door.

"You can…come in…if you….want." My Nessie said in between sobs.

When I twisted the handle and entered the bathroom, I saw that my wife was laying in the bathtub fully clothed and clutching the small piece of plastic in her hands for dear life. I sighed again and motioned for her to scoot forward so I could sit behind her.

"Jakey…I thought this was…the time." Nessie sobbed uncontrollably, showing me the minus sign on the stick she had just peed on. If she hadn't been my imprint or my wife, I would have thrown a fit about it being so close to my face.

"Shh. I know, Ness, but it'll be okay, I promise. We'll try again when we get home." I replied, rubbing her back soothingly as she cried into my t-shirt. She finally seemed to be calming down, when she turned to me solemnly.

"Mom could get pregnant and Dad was a vampire. What if you and I just can't have kids together?" Nessie asked seriously. I could tell that she had been giving this a lot of thought over the last two weeks. "I mean, I'm half vampire, and you're a werewolf. What if our species just can't mix?"

Instead of answering her, I placed a kiss to her forehead. "I don't know, babe." I whispered, not yet accepting her hypothesis as a fact. "You're my imprint. That has to count for something."

Nessie perked up. "Imprints are supposed to carry on the line, right?" She asked with a gleam in her eye. I nodded, understanding where she was headed to. "So that means I must be able to have your babies, if only for the fact that you're the Alpha so you're legacy must continue."

I smiled at her lightened mood. "That sounds like a great reason." I said with a seductive grin. "But I can think of a couple other reasons…"

"Jacob Black!" Nessie blushed as I kissed down her neck. "We're supposed to be getting ready for our trip home! Besides, we're in a bathtub!"

"I don't care." I growled against her neck and she giggled like I knew she would. "Who's going to care if we're a few hours late? Besides, I'm just fulfilling my husbandly duties, Nessie Black."

"Hmm. Nessie Black. I like the sound of that." My Ness giggled again. "Does that mean Renesme Cullen is forever gone?"

"As long as you're mine." I laughed, deliriously happy.

"Jake, have you seen my sunglasses?" Nessie asked as she frantically searched the car for the pair of shades that were right on top of her head.

We were finally on the road and actually making good progress, despite the fact that Nessie wanted to stop at just about every town 'just to see.' I swear, if I didn't know her, I would assume she was some crazy tourist. As it was, she was a crazy tourist but for a different reason. She was house shopping.

We both knew that we didn't want to stay at the Cullen Mansion or Billy's house now that we were married, but we weren't sure where we wanted to stay. Nessie decided that she would make a game out of searching for our perfect house. I found it adorable.

"They're on your head." I said with a chuckle and leaned over and pulled them down over her eyes. One hand remained on the wheel the whole time.

"You're going to kill us." Nessie said for the hundredth time. She was just like her mother, always afraid to drive with someone else behind the wheel.

"It's a good thing we're both immortal, then, huh?" I joked, earning myself a glare.

Nessie got distracted from my teasing and 'terrible' driving when we hit Forks city limits. I could see that I wasn't the only one who was happy to see the Cullen's when as soon as I stopped the car in front of the Mansion, Nessie was already up the flight of stairs and in the living room. I doubt if even Edward could have made an entrance that fast.

I followed behind her at a slower pace. What I saw in the living room surprised me. A brown haired, pale girl was lying on the couch rubbing her extremely huge pregnant belly. For a second, I thought I was dreaming and it was Bella again, but when I stepped closer, I could see that it was Max.

"Woah. What kind of bird feed have you been eating?" I teased. We all made bird jokes to the Flock and they joined the Cullen's to make dog jokes about the Pack.

"The kind that makes you extremely fertile, apparently." Max responded back coolly. It was weird to see her not being sarcastic or bossy. Pregnancy sure changes people.

"How far along are you?" Nessie asked in a hushed tone, trying to hide her discomfort at the situation.

"Physically, about seven months. Actually, only two weeks. Apparently, the avian gene is sort of an accelerant." Max replied while Fang rubbed her arm absentmindedly.

"That's…that's great." Nessie spit out before she looked around the room, her expression pained. "Where is the rest of my family?" She asked and I finally noticed that there weren't any vampires on the residence.

"Oh, they said when you guys got here that we were supposed to send you to La Push borders first. They'll catch up with you later." Nudge said from Iggy's lap. Angel and Bex were playing dolls with Gazzy and Seth in the corner so I didn't have any worries that my daughter was in good hands.

Nessie, on the other hand, refused to leave until she got five hugs from Bex. One for every year that she looked and one for her actual age. It was remarkable how much she continued to grow.

"Lets go, babe. Wouldn't want to disappoint the Pack." I said, ushering Nessie to the car again.

By the time we got to the border, it was dusk.

"I wonder why they wanted us to meet them here?" Nessie asked from the passenger seat. "I mean, isn't that weird for the pack?"

I didn't have time to answer her because all of a sudden, a man sped in front of the car and I swerved to keep from hitting him. I could hear hisses and shouts at the man as I helped Nessie out of the car.

"Emmett, that wasn't funny! You could have hurt them!" Bella vampire-yelled.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nessie asked, not even bothered that her uncle almost caused a one car wreck.

"We're putting the finishing touches on your new house." Rosalie replied with a smile.

Wait, house? Blondie smiling? This was too much.

Nessie rushed into the humble, yet obviously Cullen tweaked, house. She was too excited to wait for me and I was too stunned to follow after her.

Esme and Alice laughed at my expression. "You didn't think that we weren't going to build you a house, did you?" Esme asked. "Oh, Heavens. You are family now, Jake, though to be honest, you always were."

"We built it right on the border so we'll be allowed to visit and you'll still be close to your pack." Bella piped up. She saw the hesitant look on my face and smiled. "We got it approved from the council before we even started on the foundation, don't worry."

"I…I don't know what to say." I stuttered as Nessie beamed up at me, done with her inspection.

"I guess our house hunt is over." Nessie whispered so low that even the vampires wouldn't hear. "Its perfect for our family, Jake."


	12. Little Bundle of Joy

Chapter Eleven

Fang's POV

"I don't know how you put up with her, dude." Iggy commented quietly, trying not to wake up my pregnant wife. Ha, I never thought I'd say either of those words about Max but they were so honestly true that I was blubbering in my thoughts nonstop about it.

"Max?" I asked, pretending not to know what he was talking about.

Iggy rolled his seeing eyes. "No, the Dolly Llama."

"She's not that bad, is she?" I asked, ignoring his sarcasm. "I mean, no more than usual?"

"Ha, I actually want the old Max back. This new, hormonal Max is driving everyone crazy, Fang." Iggy admitted.

"Faaaaaaaaaaanggggggg!" Max yelled from the living room. I turned back to Iggy for a second but he was nowhere to be seen. I scanned the skies and saw the coward flying high in the air, his skin glittering faintly in the sunlight.

"I'm coming." I muttered and got up off of the porch steps.

When I entered the living room, I saw that the rest of the Martinez's were there as well. Dr. Mom flew in from Arizona early this morning and Ella was the first person I saw running through the door to greet my wife. They even brought Total along to see the baby's birth. Unfortunately, that meant that Jeb was here too.

"Faaaaaaaaaaangggggg!" Max yelled again even though I knew that she saw me standing there.

"Oh, dear. I think she's going into labor." Dr. Mom said.

"Where are the Cullen's!" Max screeched, gripping my hand for dear life.

"They didn't want to _disturb_ our _guests_. I think they went over to Jake and Nessie's new place." I admitted, trying to convey the fact that Jasper hasn't hunted in a while and her family was completely human.

"I'll go get Dr. Carlisle." Angel piped up. Her and Gasman were playing with Nudge, though why Iggy didn't come sit with his girlfriend is beyond me.

"No need." Iggy commented, walking through the door. Speak of the devil. "I flew over there to get them the second I heard Max's scream. Figured it couldn't hurt."

Carlisle and Edward were the first ones to make it back, followed by Bella, Nessie, Jake, Bex, Collin, and Seth.

"Okay, I'm gonna need most of you to clear out of the room." Carlisle instructed quietly. "Its too late for her to be moved anywhere, so we'll have to make due here."

"Kids, why don't you go play outside?" Edward advised and Bex, Gasman, Angel, Seth, Nudge, and Iggy left. "Jake, can you and Renesme keep an eye on them?"

Jake nodded and he and his wife followed the misfit group outside. "You too, Collin." Edward said, noticing how uncomfortable I was with another guy in here, possibly getting to see my wife so intimate.

Collin let out a pained whine and glanced at Ella for permission. The two hadn't seen each other since the double wedding two and a half weeks ago and judging by their appearances, neither of them were doing well without the other.

Collin's normally short hair had started to grow out a little bit and he looked a little bit like a stoner. Ella looked even worse. Her eyes had huge bags under them and it looked like she hadn't bathed during the entire separation.

"Ella, just go." Max barked, obviously seeing the same thing that I did. Her sister's face lit up in a brilliant smile as she darted out the door with her imprinter. Max glared at Jeb and barked, "You can go too."

"Can't a father be present for his grandchild's birth?" Jeb asked and I had to resist the urge to club him for acting so innocent. Did he forget that he was the whole reason we were like this? That we had wings? That we didn't want our kid to have anything to do with him? He couldn't seriously be that naïve, could he?

"A father could." Max growled and Jeb smiled lightly, but she wasn't through yet. "But you, Jeb, are not a father to me by a long shot."

"Max, isn't that a little harsh?" Dr. Mom asked as she smoothed back Max's sweaty hair.

My beautiful Max glared at her mother too. "No. I don't think it is. Now, if you want to take his side, then you can get out too. But I'd rather you didn't…I need my mom."

Dr. Mom smiled at Max before shooting a pleading look at Jeb. He reluctantly got the hint and was about to leave the room when suddenly, Rosalie was in the room and pushing him out of the house.

"I believe the lady asked you to leave." She stated as she used a little too much force to push him towards the backyard.

"What are you?" Jeb asked panicky as he landed in the dirt on his butt.

Rosalie just laughed. "Girls can't work out?"

I ignored their conversation when Max squeezed my hand again, this time breaking bones.

"You are so lucky that I love you." I almost growled.

"Right back at ya." Max replied, still a smart-aleck even in labor. Man, I love this girl.

"Okay, get ready to push hard in a few seconds." Carlisle said, looking under the sheet that Edward found to cover Max the best he could. _Thank you. _

"Now." Carlisle instructed and Max's grip on my hand tightened yet again as the lower part of her body started contracting.

"I hate you so much right now! How could you do this to me! You son-of-a…AAAAAAHHHH!" Max's ramble was cut off by an involuntary scream.

"The baby's head is crowning; it'll only be one more good push and then you'll get to meet your child." Edward commented.

"You did this to me! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Max continued to scream, punching my arm with all of her might as Dr. Mom tried to calm her.

A smile lit up my face. "No you don't." I teased, trying to avert her attention from the pain. "You loooooovvvee me." I said smugly.

A teeny tiny smile crept on her face before she gripped my hand tighter again and let out a glass shattering scream.

"You did very good, Max." Carlisle cooed in a calming manner. "Fang come cut the cord real quick so Edward can clean him off."

"Him?" I asked in disbelief, momentarily letting go of Max's hand to cut the umbilical cord like any proud father.

Carlisle just nodded. "You have a very healthy baby boy."

The smile on my face was practically reaching my eyes as I laid eyes on my very pick, sticky, seemingly normal little boy.

"I have a son!" I shouted happily and cheers erupted in the backyard.

When Edward finally had him cleaned up and in a tiny diaper and blanket, he handed our son to Max who had just finished pushing out the after birth and looked too exhausted to move. I joined her on the couch and wrapped one arm around her back to pull our little family closer to me.

My other hand swept over my son's features, memorizing the feeling of his soft skin under my hand. When I got to his back, I held me breath, not sure if I wanted to feel the beginnings of wings or not.

"Does he have them?" Max whispered, eyeing her mother and Edward deep in conversation.

I nodded, slightly relieved, and flipped our sleeping baby on his stomach so she could see. I was starting to think that he looked just like Max until I saw those wings. Black as midnight with light brown specks the way Max's had through her tan ones.

Max kissed in between the baby's wings before we flipped him back over. He instantly snuggled up against Max's chest and I couldn't contain the smile on my face.

I patted his brown-blonde hair, running my fingers from the back of his fuzzy head to the top of his forehead in amazement of how much hair he already had. His skin was slightly pink still from birth but it looked like he was going to be a little bit darker color than Max, but no where near my olive skin tone. I was fine with that. The more he looked like Max, the better.

"So, did you guys decide on a name yet?" Dr. Mom asked curiously. "I have to know what to call my grandson when I hold him for the first time."

"I liked the name Journey, you know, since that was kind of how he got here. The journey we've been on since cages…" I said, uncharacteristically blubbering.

"Isn't that sort of a strange name for a boy instead of a band?" Edward asked even though he already knew my comeback because he was in my thoughts.

"His parent's names are Maximum and Fang. _He _got off easy." I said with a chuckle.

"Wait…I changed my mind." Max said quietly in my ear. "I…I want to name him after my brother." She stuttered and I knew she was willing herself not to cry. Ari's death had been really hard on her, especially considering he expired in her arms.

"Whatever you want, babe." I whispered back, planting a kiss on baby no-name's head.

"Mom, I'd like to introduce you to Arian Journey Ride, your grandson." Max stated as I placed my son in Dr. Mom's arms, not letting go of Max for a second.

* * *

**AN: Well, there you have it. Max and Fang had a little boy who does in fact have wings like them. Arian Journey Ride. I hope you like it :)**


	13. Crying Baby Boy

Chapter Twelve

Max's POV

Its been two months since Arian's birth and things were about to get crazy again. Nessie got pregnant soon after my son was born, and she was about ready to pop. From what we've concluded, being the keen observers that we are, the Flock has decided that she's having twins. She is huge, afterall!

Bex has been growing like crazy and is now almost fully grown (or so Carlisle has predicted). She's grown as much in six months as Renesme grew in five years. Bex looked as old as Angel, if not older, and she has begun hanging out with the girls more often instead of the Gasman. Though my little trooper is taking it hard, he puts on a brave face. The two had become the best of buddies over the last few months and I knew he missed his friend.

On top of that, Ella has practically moved in with us (though Mom doesn't seem upset about it) and seeing her all over Collin all the time is giving me a headache. The two only started dating at Arian's birth but you'd think they knew each other all their lives the way they seemed to answer each others thoughts and sentences. Stupid imprints.

Jeb stops by every day, much to my annoyance, and adores my son. I hate it. I wish he would just get gone already. The worst part of it is that he and Carlisle are always talking about Arian's blood work and growth rates. I know that Dr. Vamp is only curious because he's never seen anyone like the Flock, but my sperm donor has a scientist mind that I don't like around my child or my Flock. Honestly, the sooner he leaves, the better.

"Good morning." Fang whispered against my cheek as I rolled over in bed.

"Morning." I whispered back, getting up out from under the covers to get dressed.

"Where's Arian?" I asked when I noticed his crib was empty.

"Nudge and Bex took him to play dress up." Fang said with an eye roll. "I tried to stop them but they were so insistent. And then they got Angel on their side."

"Did they pull the Bambi eyes?" I asked, knowing full well that the three of them were masters at that trick and that my husband was putty against their evil forces.

"I really wish they wouldn't have taught Bex that." Fang grumbled and I knew my suspicions were correct. "Though, I hope, for Jake's sake, that they don't teach his new little girls how to do Bambi eyes or he'll be a dead man."

"New girls?" I said, stunned. "So Nessie had the babies?"

"Delivered them in the middle of the night over at Black Residence" Fang informed me. "I just found out from Bex when she came over this morning to play."

"Twin girls?" I tried to pry, though with Fang it was easier said than done.

"Nope." Fang replied, buttoning up his own shirt as I slipped a clean t-shirt in place of my pajama gown.

"Fine. I'll just see Nessie myself then." I said with a huff, pulling on my pants and grabbing my combat shoes. "Love you." I muttered as I closed the door to our room behind me.

"Love you too." Fang said and I sighed contently.

I checked on my two year old son, willing to pry him away from the crazy fashion divas, but found that he was fast asleep while Nudge and Bex took turns 'oohing' and 'ahing' over his little jumper outfit. I have to admit; he looked like a stud.

_Angel, I'm going to Nessie's. Help watch Arian, please? _I thought, hoping she was listening while her Ipod was in her ears.

_Okay, Max. _She replied in my head, leaving me content knowing the mindreader was in charge.

By the time I flew to Black Residence, it was breakfast time and my stomach was growling. Being a birdkid was hard enough, but being a birdkid that was breast feeding was unbearable when it came to getting enough calories. I really hope that Esme made food for Nessie's family because I was starving.

The sound of a child wailing interrupted my thoughts as I landed on their front porch. Fang wasn't lying about Nessie delivering.

"Come on in Max." Edward said just loud enough for me to hear over the baby.

I headed towards the sound of the crying. I found all of the vampires surrounding Jacob and Nessie on the floor with three very loud, squirmy babies.

"Three?" I asked in disbelief. Nessie turned to look up at me and smiled brilliantly, her perfect half vampire face not showing a sign of her pregnancy unlike how mine still had the tiniest pudgyness left from Arian's birth. I was uber jealous.

"Three." Jacob said proudly. "One. Two. Three." He counted, laughing as he did so.

"Well, what are their names?" I asked, a tiny bit impatient from lack of food. Esme seemed to notice it the same I thought it because she disappeared into the kitchen and returned half a second later with a hot plate of pancakes and bacon.

I blushed. "You didn't have to…"

"Let me be a Momma, please, Max. I know you have your own, but this gives me joy in life." Esme said, her heart shaped face heartbreaking in its sincerity.

As I scarped down my food, Jacob and Nessie took turns retelling it.

"Well, I went into labor at 3:04 this morning and I couldn't believe the pain…though you must know what its like with Arian.-"

"The first baby, little Emma Roseme Black, came out scratching and I feared that all of our kids would, but Edward and the Doc were here and promised that it wouldn't happen more than once-"

"Baby Number Two, Allison Jazzlyn Black, came out easily and we all thought that she was the last one coming out until I yelled again, feeling that this wasn't over though no one else was prepared for William Anthony Black to come out-"

"I was so scared out of my life and, as you can see, he came in to the world the same way he's acting now. Loud." Jacob chuckled. "Got a good set of lungs, though."

"I like the names. How'd you come up with them?" I asked even though I assumed Renesme had followed in her mother's tradition of naming children after other people she loved.

"Emma is Emmett and Rosalie's goddaughter, though Esme's name was also borrowed. Allie is Jasper and Alice's goddaughter and Will was named after his Grandpa Billy and Grandpa Edward." Nessie explained with a grin. "Bella and Edward are their godparents, though the actual title isn't really important because we're all immortal so it doesn't matter."

"What about Carlisle?" I asked, scanning through the chosen names. I already knew that Bex was named after me and Bella, but also Jake's mother and sister. "Doesn't he get to be named after someone?"

Nessie's face fell and I saw her look at Jacob in a panic. "Oh, no. I completely forgot Carlisle." She glanced at the doctor apologetically and started rambling. "What kind of a granddaughter am I? I forgot my very favorite grandfather and that is no excuse! Who do you want your name added to? I'll change it right now since we haven't really made anything on paper yet. Do you like Carla or Carl?"

Carlisle simply smiled. "No need to worry. I don't care. I already have you named after me. Why would I need anything more?"

"Are you sure Grandpa? Nessie asked but he shook his head again. "Well I'm doing it anyway." She added stubbornly.

I glanced at the tiny pale girl and knew that she inherited vampire traits. She had green eyes that I didn't notice in any of the other family members, but the same bronze hair that Nessie and Edward both shared, though her's was straight instead of in ringlets. I wondered if this was little Allie or the eldest Emma.

_That's Emma. _Edward said in my mind. _And she seems to be half vampire like Nessie. _

I spotted the other girl, Allie, and recognized the werewolf genes in the russet skinned girl. She looked like a female version of Jacob because she had the same dark black hair, framed in the start of tiny ringlets, and Bella and Nessie's warm brown eyes.

_She's already started phasing. _Edward thought worriedly. _Looks like a cute little lapdog, but it shocked Jacob so much that he started hyperventilating this morning._

Wow. That was weird. A puppy for a granddaughter? How did Edward stand it?

I tried not to think about it too much as I tried to find the third baby. If it weren't for his constant screaming, I would have never found the little boy named Will. He was hiding in the corner, his dark eyes that reminded me of Jacob's were welded over with tears. He was a perfect blend of Nessie and Jake; pale russet skin and black-bronze hair color that actually looked more brown than anything else due to the combination. Will didn't seem to want to be held even though almost all of the Cullen's tried while I was eating.

"What's with Will?" I asked, noticing his discomfort when Nessie tried to pick him up as well.

"He won't eat." Jacob said with a worried brow.

"We tried blood, raw meat, human food. Everything." Jasper, always the strategist, said.

"Blood? Raw meat?" I asked. "What exactly is he?"

"Half human as well as a little bit of vampire and just about the same amount of werewolf." Edward explained in a quiet tone. Everyone knew how unstable being just one of those mythical creatures was, and this poor kid had both mixed in.

_Hmm. Well did you guys try breast feeding? I mean, I know that he might be less than human, but he's still just a newborn. _I thought, too embarrassed to recommend it out loud.

"That's a great idea, Max." Edward commented. "Will hasn't started phasing nor has he shown any signs of vampirtizm. Maybe he might grow like a normal human for a while…"

* * *

**AN: Nessie and Jake had triplets! Emma Roseme, Allison Jazzlyn, and William Anthony Carl Black. Love it? Hate it? **

**Btw, I know it seems like I'm rushing this story, but I haven't even gotten to the main plot yet so just hold on for the ride :)**


	14. Blast From The Past!

Chapter Thirteen

Third Person POV

No one noticed the visitor slip in because there was no one conscious enough _to _see him. He glanced at the Flock girls on the couch surrounded by the ones called the Cullens and Blacks, all unconscious thanks to the high potent fumes that he had his men leak into the air system. The ones who owned this house took longer than the others to finally fall victim to the spray, but they too were no match for it.

But the man paid them no mind; he was here for one thing only. Arian Ride, the greatest experiment ever.

It only took one minute for his men to return downstairs with the child, though he frowned when he noticed that they had not one, but two unconscious children in their arms.

"What is the meaning of this!" The leader yelled. "I told you to grab the boy. Who is the other kid?"

"Well…sir, we only had a picture to go on." Serenity said, her mechanical voice sounding oddly soothing. But that was the point of its creation, after all. "These children both fit the description."

"We can't return with two boys!" The leader growled furiously. "Find out which one is the right one and lets leave! We have a deadline to keep!"

The leader walked towards the van and got in the front seat next to Maria. "Idiots." She mumbled, watching as Serenity and Gremlin argued over which of the nearly identical boys was in fact the one that they'd been sent to capture.

Gremlin heard the noise first, his enhanced hearing far more advanced than his robot partner's. He was the muscles in an operation as well as the lookout because he was built as a huge, bulky fighter with heightened senses.

The sound was quiet at first but became louder as more of them started waking up. It was the Cullens; all eight of them golden eyed and angry when they saw that Gremlin and Serenity had the two most important boys in the house; Will and Arian.

Gremlin panicked and ran to the car, grabbing both babies since he was the fastest of the two. He didn't bother to wait for his partner since capture was almost inevitable. Instead, the leader sped off down the highway while the Cullens were still too drug induced to move. Sure, they could open their eyes and see what was going on around them, but they were still paralyzed, the drug was just that powerful.

If the leader had been thinking, he would have noticed that there was something strange about the Cullens; the gorgeous humans who woke up way too soon. But, as it was, the leader was too focused on dealing with the problem at hand.

"Lift up their shirts." The leader commanded and stared at a confused Gremlin. He clenched his teeth when he didn't get a response. "Check for which one has wings, you moron."

"The description did mention black wings with brown spots." Maria stated. "How could you be so stupid and forget that fact?"

Gremlin shook his head, too confused by her bluntness to understand what she meant. He lifted up the shirt of the first baby and frowned when he didn't see the wings they were talking about. He tried the next one and had better luck; wings.

"What are we going to do with the other one, boss?" Gremlin asked, staring at their leader even though his back was turned to him.

"_We _aren't doing anything." The leader said and Maria got the hint.

"Let me see the babies." She said sweetly, using her knowledge about Gremlin's crush to her advantage. Once the kids were safely in her arms, Leader slammed on the brakes and Gremlin's head hit the back of her seat with a loud thud.

She pushed the boys in the leader's arms before opening the back door and shoving a semi-unconscious Gremlin out the door and on to the wooded ground. "Whaaaa-?" was his last response before Maria pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest for good measure.

"Sorry, Grem," Maria said semi-sweetly, "but you were just too much of an imbecile to work with us any longer. Just a big screw-up from the start…"

She closed the back door and signaled to Leader to continue to their destination. The moment they were back on the road, she hit the SCRAM button on the dashboard and smiled in satisfaction. No one would be able to find them now.

The SCRAM button did many things; blocked cell phone towers nearby, hid the van from public suspicion by making it invisible to anyone without the D-4 gene, and messed up the scent of anyone in it just for good measure. The last one was a precaution against hound dogs.

"How's it feel to be a Mommy now? Two sons and none of the stretch marks, you're a lucky woman, Max II." The leader teased and Maria glared at Arian and the other boy.

"I am _not_ their mother! No matter _whose_ DNA I share!" Max II growled. "And my name is Maria. My days as 'Max II' are long gone. I chose my name years ago."

What Maria failed to mention were three important things.

1) The fact that she had her own child so she didn't need to play babysitter to these two boys. She had kept this fact hidden from her co-workers at all costs, afraid that they would take her away as another experiment.

2) The fact that underneath her cold exterior, she truly loved her precious little girl; Anastasia Ride (for lack of a better last name).

And 3) she just shot Annie's father.

* * *

**AN: Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! The School (or at least some of its' former members) are back and have kidnapped Arian Ride and Will Black. Can the families get them back before it is too late? Where are Maria and the leader going? And who exactly is the leader, anyway? Someone we know…? Review with your guesses :)**


	15. Search Parties

Chapter Fourteen

Max's POV

Two months since I've last seen my son. Two months since we got an unwanted houseguest. Two months since I found out who was behind his disappearance. Two months since everything in my life made sense. Two months of searching and coming up empty-handed again and again. Two months is an awfully long time…

* * *

_Flashback to two months ago. (But you already saw this coming.)_

* * *

"_What do you mean 'your son is missing'?" I yelled at Alice, the peppy psychic, who was coincidently the barer of bad news around here._

"_I don't know what happened. One minute, we were watching tv and Jake and Fang had just put the children to sleep, and the next, we wake up to two intruders and our bodies aren't working properly."_

"_Why didn't you Cullens freakin' stop them? You're supposed to be these big and bad vampires, but you can't even keep Arian safe! You let my son's kidnappers walk right out the front door and disappear into thin air! We would be better off without any of you!" _

_I glanced at the Flock's stone cold faces and knew that I had crossed a line. Nessie was crying into Jake's chest and for a moment I remembered that I wasn't the only mother who's son was kidnapped. _

"_Max." Fang whispered, trying to meet my eyes even though they were lined with tears. Just that word, my name, and I crumbled. _

_This was new to me; this sensation of loosing control of a situation. I was Maximum Ride, after all; fearless leader, wife, and mother. I didn't show weakness. _

_But, considering my son was kidnapped and I just snapped at the only people who were even conscious enough to get a good look at the kidnappers faces, I think I have a reason to let my emotional guard down._

"_Sorry." I whispered to no one in particular yet to everyone collectively. _

"_We might have a way to figure out who is behind this." Bella spoke up. After the silence (other than crying), her voice practically echoed through the house. _

_Nessie eyed her father hopefully while my face remained guarded still. _

"_Emmett and Jasper are roughing her up, but so far she hasn't talked." Edward informed. "We were hoping that you guys would have better luck since we don't think that Will was the intended target."_

"_And what makes you so sure Arian was?" I snarled. _

"_Because," Edward said calmly, "her thoughts are centered around a picture of him."_

_Oh, god, don't tell me that it was some random bounty hunter. That would be freakin' fan-flippiin'-tastic! The only reason someone would have a picture of the target would be 1) bounty hunter or 2) disposable employee that wasn't high up on the chain-of-command._

_Option two was starting to look more and more plausible the second Fang, Angel, and I walked outside to the 'interrogation' area. The girl couldn't be more than fifteen and she was most definitely in the wrong career choice. She was too young to be caught up in something like this. (Though, Fang and I only recently turned eighteen and were already married, so I can't really judge on the age issue.)_

"_Kid won't spill." Emmett growled, trying his best not to unleash full force hits on to the girl's face. _

_Angel was the only one who didn't approve of the blunt-force approach to getting answers. "Make him stop, Max. I think I can get her to talk." Angel pleaded, Bambi eyes winning once again. _

"_She's just a kid." Jasper said. I needn't to remind him that Nudge was fifteen too, and he had never called _her _a kid. _

_The two vampires left us alone, muttering about their missing nephew and Arian as they did so._

"_Hi." Angel said happily to the girl, who couldn't take her eyes off of me. "I'm Angel. And this is Max and Fang. Who are you?" _

_The girl's expression hardened halfway through Angel's sentence, but no one else seemed to notice. The answer was so quiet that I thought it was merely the wind. "A384K3I." _

_Angel frowned. "No, your name. I need to know your name." _

"_Serenity." Again, it was like the rushing of the wind said it. "My name is Serenity." _

_I don't know what came over me, but I was suddenly very sleepy. One second I was shooting Serenity death glares, and the next, I was rubbing my eyes tiredly. _

"_What are you…*yawn*…getting from her mind?" I asked Angel. _

"_She's like us, Max." Angel responded. Another winged kid? "No, she's an experiment too. She doesn't have Avian DNA, but she isn't human. All I keep picking from her thoughts are the picture of AJ, this burly guy she calls Gremlin, and the words 'failure,' 'unwanted,' and 'bad-bad-bad.'" _

"_Does she know anything else? Like who sent her and this Gremlin guy? Does she know who her leader is?" Fang asked, looking oddly peaceful. _

_Angel shook her head, frowned, and then nodded. "When you mentioned 'leader,' she instantly thought of the man who drove the get away van and a woman who was his partner."_

"_Well, who were they?" I asked impatiently. _

"_The woman's name is Maria, and the guy doesn't have one. They only called him Leader, probably for reasons like this…" Angel admitted. "Serenity barely ever saw his face because he liked bandanas, but the woman was one of her regular co-workers. You'll never believe who it is. I'll give you one guess." _

"_I give up." I said with an eye roll. "Just tell me who it is so we can start kicking some butt."_

"_Your clone has your baby." Angel said ominously. _

_Max II was back? Omg, that meant the School was involved. I swore that I wouldn't let my son have the kind of childhood the Flock had, and I'm not about to break that promise._

_Suddenly, Edward came out on the patio with us and glanced at Serenity before looking at us with hesitant eyes. "Serenity, we would like to invite you to stay with us for a little while since you have no place to go and you don't know where you were supposed to deliver the children."_

"_You have GOT to be kidding me." I snarled. "There is no way that one of my son's captors is going to stay under the same roof as me!" _

"_Of course not," Edward said and I let out a sigh of relief a little too early. "She'll be staying in the cottage with me and Bella so we can keep an eye on her."_

_I stared in disbelief as Angel didn't try to stop him. I mean, Fang was always on whatever side I was on, but my baby didn't even want to go against Edward?_

"_Max, you don't understand the big picture." Angel said, sounding philosophical at only eleven years of age. _

"_Fine. I don't care. Just let me know when you guys are ready to go search for the boys." I commented, tired of arguing and fighting and well, just plain tired. _

* * *

_End Flashback-back to the present where it still isn't any better_

* * *

We split up after that, a Cullen, one of Jake's wolves, and a Flock member made up each search team (until we ran out of Flock members, and then they just went short one). We spread out so much that I think we covered the entire United States, half of Mexico, and the closest parts of Canada.

Each time a search party would return from their assigned area, I nearly died inside, because every single one of them came up empty. I knew that Nessie was equally as devastated, but she tried to put on a brave face because the rest of her children needed her to be strong.

"We'll find them." Fang whispered, noticing where my thoughts were drifting, yet again.

"How can you be sure anymore?" I asked, my usual confident manner had been thrown out the window and run over by a semi-truck.

"Because Alice, Angel, and Leah haven't returned yet." He replied. "If anyone can bring our son home, it's the psychic, mind reader, and fastest wolf.

_I really, really, hoped he was right. _


	16. Unseeing

Chapter Fifteen

Angel's POV

"Alice, can you catch Leah the next time she makes a lap and tell her that I think she's going to wear herself out?" I asked, half asleep from Alice's late night strategy meeting last night.

We were officially the last group still out searching for Arian and Will, but I knew that even if we turned up empty, the search wouldn't end until both boys were brought home safely.

From what I gathered from Serenity's mind two months ago, the new School building was high-tech, heavily guarded, and also had the properties to make it invisible…so, basically, impossible to find. Even the getaway van had disappeared into thin air, though we did find Gremlin's body on the highway. He was a sad slab of road kill, but it was vital that Serenity confirm his identify, so we had to listen to her crying over his death for a whole day while we gathered supplies for our search and rescue teams.

Suddenly, Alice and human Leah appeared in my line of sight and I fluttered down from the tree I had been laying in while also scouting the area. Nothing but trees for twenty miles in any direction.

"Okay, so what's the game plan?" Leah asked, standing next to me and inhaling slightly. I guess the vampire scent was starting to get to her.

"Well, we know that we can't see it, and because of the boys' genealogy, Alice can't _see _them, but there has to be a way. I can feel that they're close." I said, playing with a strand of grass. I looked up at Leah who was still standing. "How is Seth holding up?"

Leah rolled her eyes. "He's acting like a lost puppy, sleeping in your bed and wallowing in his inability to be near you."

I frowned. I didn't like it that the searching parties split up couples. I missed my wolf terribly right now. It had been two months without physical contact and I knew it was crushing him more than it was upsetting me. "Don't be hard on him. You know you'd be doing the same thing if Embry wasn't always phased when you were."

"Enough of your arguing." Alice spoke up quietly. "I think I know a way around our disabilities."

"And how is that, oh psychiness?" Leah said with a tad bit too much sarcasm.

"Well, like Angel said. I can't see the boys…" Alice said with a huge grin.

"Yeah, we know." Leah grunted. "That doesn't exactly help us."

"I've been trying to 'not' see areas where we're headed, and there's this one town that disappears up in Canada." Alice explained. "I think its worth checking out."

"But don't like wolves and halfbreeds disappear from your vision too?" I asked. "It could just be one of Nauhel's sisters."

"It could…or it could not be." Alice said with another grin. "Please, please, just let us stop there on our way back. We're already the last ones still out looking."

I read her thoughts and decided that it was worth a try. "Okay. I'm in."

Leah sighed. "Can we just do it quickly, since its obvious that its two against one. I wanna get home soon if its alright with you guys."

"Oh, thank you, thank you." Alice, always energetic, said with a jump in the air. "On to Thanatos!"

"You mean, the Greek god of death?" Leah complained. "Doesn't that sound suspicious to anyone else!"

I shrugged. "I was born at a place called Death Valley."

With one last complaint from Leah, we took off to Thanatos, Canada.

I knew something was up the moment, I set foot in the little town. Leah and Alice were running beneath me the entire hour it took to get there while I flew overhead to get the gist of the landscape. Let me tell you, there wasn't much to see. Other than the occasional house, tree, or car, there wasn't anything even remotely interesting about the trip to Thanatos.

"I'm not seeing anything that could double as a kidnapper's hideout." Leah said, pulling her sundress down from just phasing back. She found it easier to tie a raggedy dress to her leg than jeans and a t-shirt.

"Oh, wait! Look that's it!"

"Really, where?" I asked, then scanned her mind for the building that wasn't there. "Very funny, Leah."

"What? I'm just so bored…" Leah complained again.

"Shh…I need to focus…or un-focus." Alice corrected herself as she shushed Leah and closed her eyes for added effect.

Ten minutes later, Alice opened her eyes with a start and I gasped upon reading her thoughts. She immediately whipped out her small silver phone and hit speed dial one, Edward Cullen.

"Leah, call Jacob. We're gonna need the whole team here." I whispered as I pulled out my phone to call Max. This was what we'd been waiting for…

* * *

**AN: I made up the city Thanatos, Canada; just so you know. I just like the translation to "death." **


	17. Battle Mode

Chapter Sixteen

Max's POV

"You ready to go kick some butt?" I asked, my tone holding more than excitement about getting to take my son back from Max II and her grimy cohorts.

Fang smiled devilishly, his eyes piercing, and he merely nodded. Show time.

"Okay, so here's how we're gonna do this…" I said, taking charge.

Since I got the phone call, as well as Edward and Jacob, the entire house had been in ultra battle mode. Even Carlisle looked threatening and that was saying something because he was the sweetest vampire I had ever met.

Wolves were running in and out of the house, getting orders from Jacob before running back outside to tell the others the new instructions. Both packs were present, which normally would be odd, but since Sam was planning on stepping down to stay with Emily who was officially pregnant, the other members needed time to integrate into Jake's small pack of five.

To make it more difficult, Ella decided that this was the weekend she wanted to move in, to be close to Collin of course, and she was in the way of our planning because we couldn't tell her about the vampires since it wasn't Collin's secret to tell. She was perfectly okay with the werewolf thing though.

"Bex, you will be staying here to guard Ella, Allie, and Emma." I commanded, then paused when I glanced at Serenity, our unwanted house guest.

Edward sensed my hesitation and took over from there. "We'll be taking Serenity with us to make a trade if possible. If not, well, she's still going back to where she came from."

"Is that safe?" Nudge asked, startling us. "She's just a confused mutant like us, Max." Bambi eyes. "You don't want to send her back there, do you?" More Bambi eyes. "That would be like sending me to the School, or Angel or something." A faux tear rolled down her cheek complimented by another over the top Bambi expression.

"We'll discuss that when the time comes." I simply stated, knowing I wouldn't be able to deny the girls their new friend, even if she did try to steal my son and Will.

"Collin," Jake addressed his wolf brother, "I want you to stay here as well. Your mind will be on your imprint more than on the mission and I can't risk that…besides, its more protection in case someone tries to go after one of them."

I nodded and Ella and Collin's faces lit up. "Good thinking; now that that's settled, lets move 'em out!" I yelled and everyone emptied the house minus the Blacks.

Nessie bent down to pick up Allie, who looked six months now because she grew every time she phased, and kissed the top of her curly black ringlets. Emma tugged on her mom's leg, her green eyes looking up at Ness with confusion.

"When is Will coming home?" Emma asked. Did I forget to mention that she already looked two years old due to her half-vampire growth? Oops, my bad.

Nessie bent down and hugged her oldest of the triplets and kissed the top of her straight bronze hair. "Soon, baby, soon."

Jacob had already said his goodbyes and was waiting at the front door for Nessie to ride on his wolf back since she wasn't as fast as the other vampires. She nodded when she spotted him and kissed Bex on her cheek. "Watch your sisters, please?" She asked and the nearly identical copy of herself just smirked.

"I'm not promising anything." Bex said with a grin, her rebellious teenager tendencies kicking in at physically twelve but technically seven months. I guess her mind was even more advanced than that.

"Rebecca!" Jacob growled. "You cut that attitude out this instant, young lady."

"Sorry, Daddy." Bex apologized and hugged her mother. "Sorry, Mama. I'm just scared."

"We'll be fine, I promise." Jacob reassured her, bringing her into a hug despite our time restraint.

"Aww. That is so cute!" Ella spoke up, startling us. I hadn't even noticed her in the room. "When Collin and I have kids, I want him to be as wonderful with ours as Jake is with his."

_When? _Ugh, I don't think I'm ready to be an aunt yet! My sixteen year old sister is not thinking about children already, is she?

Ella caught my expression and blushed. "Oh, no, not now. Well, not any time soon, but you know, when we're ready and he, um, proposes and…I'm just gonna shut up now." My sister stuttered and Collin started laughing from the kitchen, where he emerged with a plate of sandwiches in his hand.

"Don't worry, Elle. If you want kids, we'll have them when we're married. As many as you want…" Collin said, then glanced at us. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Right." Jacob said, grabbing Nessie's hand and leading her outside. By the time I said goodbye to Ella and went outside to join my Flock, Jake had already phased and Nessie was settled on his back.

I took a running start and was in the air in seconds, taking my spot at the head of out 'V' with Fang on my right with Gazzy behind him and Iggy on my left followed by Nudge.

Below me, I saw the Cullens, minus Alice, in front of the wolves; all fourteen of the sixteen total wolves -excluding Leah and Collin.

Jacob and Sam took the leads with Seth, Embry, Quil, Paul, Jared, Brady in the middle. The youngest wolves (all ranging from sixteen to twelve) were in the back; Scotty, twins Jeremiah and Joshua, David, Tibias, and Dylan.

Though I didn't really know the younger ones, I could easily recognize their fur color and match it to their human face (except for the twins, those two were hard to tell apart still.)

"Will and Arian, we're coming." I whispered into the wind.

* * *

**AN: Don't worry. Next chapter will be the fight scene. Review if you don't want anyone to die, because as of now, I'm undecided. :)**


	18. Captive

Chapter Seventeen

Third Person POV

"When will that baby ever shut up?" Maria complained as she gave Infant Two another shot. Infant One, the actual target of the mission, was still bawling from his last shot.

"He's just fussy because he misses his Mommy, why don't you try holding him?" The leader suggested and Maria rolled her eyes. She may be Max's clone, but there is no way that she was ever going to consider that boy her son.

"I'd rather just inject him again." Maria said with a frown as the needle in her hand got stuck in Infant Two's skin; again.

Even though the two looked nearly identical at first (light blonde-brown hair, semi-dark skin tones, and dark brown eyes), the second baby grew almost two months older over night. He was now physically four months while One still looked his normal age of two months.

"You know that that isn't part of the rules." Leader said with authority. "You inject them once a day to see how strong we can make them. Their parents have absolutely no idea where they are, so we can practically raise them ourselves. Just think, two new experiments without any of the manual labor!"

Max II just nodded. There had been a time when she played the role of the 'experiment' and a time when she was cast as the 'experiment maker.' She shuddered at the thought, being the only girl around here with not all human DNA was not a good thing. That was how she wound up with her daughter Anastasia who only Leader knew about (despite it being Gremlin's kid.)

Speaking of Annie, Maria needed to check on her soon or else who knew what trouble she would get into. That girl was too much like the original Max for her own good and Maria hated how her daughter liked to rebel against her even though she was only three and a half. Spirit is what she _should _have named her.

Leader caught Maria staring at the door and sighed. "Just bring her in here if it'll make you work more proficient. We need to let One out of his cage to fly anyways, so might as well let Annie play with her brother."

Maria growled. She hated when the leader made comments like that. Just because she was a freaking clone, he thought that she was the same as Max and so Infant One and Anastasia were half siblings. But she went to retrieve her daughter from their sleeping quarters nonetheless.

Annie was the spitting image of Maria, or the original Max if you wanted to think like that, with short wavy blonde-brown hair, those same threatening brown eyes, and pale skin. Heck, Annie even had the same color wings; tan with brown specks. The only thing that Anastasia got from Gremlin was his heightened senses and incredible strength.

Leader unhooked Infant One's cage and the boy started flapping his wings like crazy. He still didn't have control over his small, baby chicken wings, but he knew that flying was the only thing he was allowed to do when out of the cage and he wanted to make the most of it.

Annie joined Arian in the air and did a back flip mid-air just to warm up.

The two truly were a sight to see. Black wings and tan wings colliding together, their brown specks creating an image of what looked like a star before the two separated and Infant One followed Annie's lead. She had been inadvertently teaching him how to fly for the past two weeks, just by showing off in front of him.

Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted from the back of the room and startled the pair. Arian crash landed on the table while Annie recovered quicker and continued to flap her wings and stay in air.

Maria and Leader didn't recover from their shock in time and out of nowhere, eight giant wolves attacked each of them before the rest of the guards came rushing in the room.

Inhumanly beautiful men and women attacked the guards while the Flock ran past them and ducked into all of the rooms, checking for other mutants or scientists.

"Wolves! Stop!" Edward yelled and they paused their attack on the two kidnappers. They were covered in scratches and bite marks, but no actual damages because Jacob and Sam knew that they would need them for questioning. Mostly, they just wanted to scare them.

The Flock came back into view with Gretchen, the leading pediatrician for the experiments, Leon, Tommy, and Duncan, stupid interns, and Edgar who…well, no one was really sure what he did.

Behind them were four other reject experiments like Maria; Nudge II who called herself Nuala because she thought it sounded cool, Denver (a horse/human hybrid boy), Kirby (a frog/human hybrid boy), and Angel II who was surprisingly okay with being a clone and even wanted to be called Two-Two much to Nuala and Maria's annoyance.

Serenity spotted them and tried to get out of Carlisle's strong grip, but he wouldn't budge.

"Let her go." Edward whispered to his father of sorts, reading the girl's intentions. "She won't do any harm to our people."

Nudge frowned when she saw her clone and Serenity hugging. She had known deep down that there was a reason why she instantly clicked with Serenity when no one else did. Especially considering Serenity didn't even talk to anyone but her and Angel.

Too bad that was just the distraction Maria and Leader needed to get out of the pack's reach. They each grabbed one of the flying children, one threateningly and the other one lovingly, and placed the children in front of themselves as a bargaining thing. Maria was instantly regretted not grabbing Infant Two instead of her own daughter when she saw the way the massive attacking party was glaring at them.

Nessie ran forward and clawed Will's cage open and hugged her son to her chest while still glaring at Maria and the unnamed leader.

"Give. Me. My. Son." Max glared at Leader before recognition set in. "Oh my gosh, is that really you?…" She asked and Angel gasped.

How did she not see the kidnapper's familiar face in Serenity's mind when they were questioning her? There was no doubting that it was…

* * *

**AN: Ooh, cliffy! Okay, so here are the options for Leader. He can either be Jeb playing the traitor...again, Ari back from the dead...again, or Sam from Virginia. Please review to let me know which one you think would be best. **


	19. Master Plan

_Previously: __How did she not see the kidnapper's familiar face in Serenity's mind when they were questioning her? There was no doubting that it was…_

Chapter Eighteen

Leader's POV (I know you all are dying of suspense, but just enjoy the ride dear friends!)

It seemed like forever since I saw the Flock, though in actuality it was much shorter. They had managed to round up my other minions; Gretchen, Leon, Tommy, Duncan, and Edgar, as well as corner "Maria" and me into a corner with children held hostage in front of us.

As far as an un-kidnapping goes, this one was going off without a hitch for them.

There seemed to be an uncountable number of help in this. All of my men were cornered while they had people and wolves just standing around. Slowly, they started drifting off until only the Flock, the men who were more like Greek gods than human, and three of the wolves.

The odds still weren't good for our side though.

"Nuala" and "Two-Two" were getting stared at by their original DNA suppliers, as well as by the rest of the Flock's army of sorts. Denver's hooves were tapping the floor nervously as his long hair swished defensively behind him.

Serenity, my prize experiment, was thrashing uncontrollably in one of the inhumanly beautiful man's arms as she tried to join her friends. I would warn her that it was useless, but she had never been one to obey me when she got in one of her moods. I didn't mind, though, she could still kick butt in circles around anyone but the Maxes.

The only experiment who seemed to not really care was Kirby, and he was just too stupid to notice. Frogs must be the dumbest creatures alive. No wonder schools buy them by the hundreds to dissect in Biology classes; with their brain levels, they seem to have brought it on themselves.

"Let my son go!" Original Max yelled again, no longer caring that she had recognized me. I didn't care much either way, but I thought the least she could do was pay me some respect. I was a huge part of her past after all; maybe even a part of her future too if this plan worked out right.

"Or what, Maxie?" I taunted, knowing it got under her skin as much as calling Maria 'Max II' did. Those two really were dealt from the same cloth after all.

"I'll rip you to shreds you blankedy-blank-blank!" Max screeched, earning herself disapproving frowns from the people in her army. Even one of the wolf dogs seemed to be sending upset stares in her direction.

This was turning out to be quite a hoot.

"Language, Maxie." I taunted again. "A lady never curses like that in front of children."

I stroked Infant One's hair and placed a kiss to his small temple. He seemed to be on high alert even though I was holding him gently, though still as a body shield, and wondered how alike he was to his parents.

"My name is Maximum Ride, not Maxie." Max growled. "I always knew there was a reason why I felt I couldn't trust you, but now I know what it is!"

I was about to reply with a witty comeback, but I was interrupted before I had the chance.

"Let the girl go." A bronze haired man said calmly. He startled me until I noticed that he was looking at Max II who was holding her daughter Anastasia the way I was with Infant One.

"I can't. You'll kill me." Maria stated knowingly. Her eyes went to her original, and she whimpered. "Please, we made our peace in Germany. Why fight now?"

"You kidnapped my son, that's why." Max, who seemed to be the only one really putting up a fight, said with a glare. "You'll get what's coming to you."

Suddenly, the power went out and that was all the time I needed to fulfill Part Three of my plan. Part One went something like this: get Flock to let their guard down and wait for one of them produce an offspring with the other (honestly, my money was on Nudge and Iggy).

Part Two was to kidnap said child, lure them here (that part took a lot of strategizing so they would have to wait a long time and become devastated-though I assumed it would be longer than two months), and get them to realize my involvement in this all along.

Part Three, well, it was the hardest part of them all because it required guts that I didn't know I had in me at my age. I had to escape from their containment and continue my experimentations in secret. My goal was to become more powerful than said child, who in an essence, is the most powerful recombinant life form ever created.

Okay, now I know you might be wondering, 'why are any of these steps necessarily for you to be that powerful?'

Simple. The School's pride and joy were the Flock. The Flock this, the Flock that. No one cared about the other experiments as long as the Flock were around. Well, I tried befriending them. I tried wiping them out. I even tried sharing a fake bond with one of them. But it all ended in vain; the Flock were just like the others: they only cared about the Flock.

The whole Part Two of the plan was a bit of a waste but I wanted to see the Flock's shocked faces when they saw who it was that orchestrated this whole master plan. Call me cocky if you want. I don't care. The Flock have had their chance to shine, and after I'm as powerful as one of their children, there's no stopping me!

* * *

**AN: Don't hate me for not revealing Leader's identity yet, but has anyone figured out who the Leader is yet? A million free hypothetical cookies if you can guess correctly :)**


	20. Now What?

Chapter Nineteen

Angel's POV

Being in Sam Porter's mind was like noting I'd ever experienced before. Here he was, an evil young man in place of the teenager that dated Max in Virginia and fooled us all into thinking his motives were good. It was hard to believe that he was the same sad experiment that 'died' the day they brought me in with the others.

Forgive me for not making the mental connection, but I was two the last time I actually read this deep into his mind. In Virginia, he was closed off partly, but I didn't think anything of it because I considered him a normal teenaged guy; most of them never fully form a thought.

"Don't blame yourself, Angel." Edward soothed. The lights had been off for the better part of a minute now and the vampires and wolves were better adjusted to the dark than we Flock members, but even we could see perfectly in the dark.

The second the lights had gone done, Sam had opened a hidden door and escaped with Arian before anyone had a chance to figure out what had happened. Max started banging on the door that didn't appear and when that didn't work, she glared angrily at Maria who still held her daughter in her arms.

"You will pay!" She yelled and lunged at her clone.

Anastasia flapped wildly, taking to the air like a pro despite her age, and hovered above her mother and Max. The little girl was scared out of her mind, but she kept circling overhead, trying to return to her mother's embrace.

The Maxes fighting was so cliché that even I was bored of it. Maria was on bottom with Max straddling her to get a better angle for her punches; but Maria was trying to get the upper hand.

Pure anger was the only thing running through both of their minds; anger for the kidnapping, anger for being an experiment, anger for having to work for Sam and knowing his intentions all along, and anger for the fact that their children weren't any better off than they were.

"Stop it!" My clone yelled. Two-Two was exactly like me, minus the scars from fighting Erasers, but that also meant she had the same powers as I did. She turned to me and nodded. "Angel had an idea."

"Talking in third person, shrimp?" Emmett asked and I rolled my eyes.

"That's my clone Two-Two." I stated.

When he still looked confused, I motioned for Seth to confirm it. My imprint took one glance between the two of us and came up in wolf form to lick my face.

"See? Even my puppy can tell us apart." I grinned like a maniac and he just cocked his head to the side in a 'duh' expression.

"Aw, he's kinda cute." Two-Two said with a giggle. "How did you get a wolf puppy?"

Max and Maria were still fighting while this was going on, when suddenly, Maria started pulling Max's head downwards to try and head butt her since there was no way that she was going to be able to shake her original off of her. The two were too evenly matched.

Max saw what was coming, but couldn't stop it either way. When their skulls collided, Max jumped off of her clone with so much force that Maria's head smacked the linoleum from the momentum. Her body went limp and her eyes stared blankly upwards, unmoving.

"Is she…dead?" Serenity asked in a monotone voice. You can't really blame her though, because she was programmed that way from birth; show no emotions.

Kirby gasped, though it sounded more like a croak, and jumped over to get a better look at Maria. He crouched down next to her, his hands falling to his feet instinctively, and he gasp/croaked again.

Denver stayed by Nuala's side, his ponytail swaying behind him nervously, and she grabbed his hand to comfort him. It was weird to see "Nudge" with Denver instead of Iggy. This clone business is something that will probably cause some major therapy for a few of us in a few years.

"I…I killed her." Max whimpered, showing genuine emotions for the first time since Arian was kidnapped. "I…I didn't mean it…it was an accident…I didn't mean it."

"Shh," Fang whispered, wrapping his arms around Max instinctively.

Edward motioned for Jacob, Seth, and Leah to go check the perimeter to see if they could find a route bad-Sam could have taken.

(I say bad-Sam because Sam Uley was in the woods with Nessie, Will, and the Cullen women, waiting for Jacob's signal to take them home. He had the other wolves standing by as well.)

Jasper was trying to calm Max down, but she was on an emotional rollercoaster that she didn't seem to want to get off of. I felt bad for the empath at times like this.

Carlisle was checking Maria for vital signs but shook his head to confirm her deceased state.

"Good news," Edward spoke up. "Leah said she caught Sam's scent leaving the building."

That got everyone's attention. While Iggy and Gasman started preparing a bury sight outside for Maria, I followed the rest of our crew outside.

"You'd better dig a second grave." Fang commented angrily. "My son's kidnapper will need one when we catch him."

Nudge nodded, keeping quiet for once, and simply starting digging a second hole while Iggy continued on the first one. With his new strength, he'd probably be done before she even got a foot of dirt shoveled out.

"Angels," Jasper said, addressing me and Two-Two. "Stay here with the others and watch the small winged girl."

I nodded. Annie just lost her mother, there was no way I was letting her fly loose around the city. Two-Two led her friends back into the building and I followed behind, letting her be in charge like I knew she'd want to be. She was just like me after all.

It only took our rescue crew two hours to track down Sam and bring him back. True to his word, Fang carried the lifeless man back to the facility and dropped his body into Iggy's dug hole. He was bruised, bit, and scratched all over; the vampires and wolves must have helped in Fang's vengeance.

Max was clinging to Arian for dear life and I knew that she wouldn't let him out of her sight for a long, long, long time. Kind of like after I was kidnapped by the Erasers five years ago and she watched me like a hawk. Really, I was starting to feel sorry for the kid.

We moved under the shelter of the trees as Gasman and Iggy blew up the facility. Saying things like "die, baby, die," and "good riddance." As if burning down every building that held evil intentions was going to make the world a better place.

No one said a word about that for what seemed like forever.

"Why did Sam do it?" Nudge asked, looking down at his dead body with horror. "I mean, I'm an experiment too, but that doesn't mean that I want to become some freaky super powerful mutant. He had to have had some other reason or, um, what's the word…motive, yeah, motive. He had to have another motive for taking Arian other than that…"

Nuala nodded. "He was, like, always talking about the Flock in a way that was kind of weird. I mean, he treated us clones better than, like, Kirby and Denver, 'cause we were sorta like you guys. But there was always this anger in his eyes…" Nudge II trailed off.

"Man, this clone thing is trippy." Emmett commented.

Two-Two and I decided to mess with his head even more, and when I saw her nod, we both started talking. "Sam was a prized experiment before the Flock were considered the pride of the School. Once the Flock were in the limelight with Jeb and the other scientists, They didn't care about any of the 'reject' experiments. No one even noticed when Sam disappeared one day with Anne.

"Even she got bored with him after a while, and passed him off to a random scientist/teacher in Virginia. She didn't even realize that he was the same guy who dated Max when he came to pick her up. That set him off even more, though he didn't let on.

"He figured the only way to get back at the Flock was to take away the one thing that was important to them…he just had to wait and gather his own team." We finished in unison.

"Okay, now that was trippy." Leah stated.

"Agreed." Serenity stated monotone. "But, I have one question still…what are we going to do now that we don't have a leader or a home?"

That was a question that no one had an answer for.

* * *

**AN: Okay, so Sam was the Leader. Now Sam and Max II are dead (one on accident, one not). **

**Let me know if you want me to further the adventure with the reject experiments. They can either A) come back to live with the Cullens, or B) find a nice home somewhere else with the Flock's help. Please review with your suggestion. **


	21. Home Sweet Home

_Previously: "What are we going to do now that we don't have a leader or a home?" _

Chapter Twenty

Jacob's POV

Everyone was stunned into silence. I guess our plan makers had forgotten about that part when they set out on this journey. To be honest, all I was focused on was getting the kids back and seeking justice for their kidnapping. I didn't much care what happened to the other experiments.

_We can't just leave them here. _

_Why not? No one would know the difference._

_We would know. _

_Yeah, but its not like we really signed up for this. _

_He's right; we had a mission and we fulfilled it. Now lets get back home…I'm starving._

_Ooh, I could totally go for some of Emily's spaghetti. _

_Yeah, with those meatballs…_

Having the added wolves in my head was driving me crazy so I ordered most of them home. Anyone under the age of eighteen and who had an imprint was allowed to leave. My pack decided to stay though since their imprints were here. That left Brady, Jared, Seth, Leah, and Embry other than myself. Now we could actually strategize.

"We've decided to bring them with us until Esme can set up a house for them." Edward informed us. "They aren't any threat to us and they don't know that you guys are werewolves, so they won't be a liability. Well, obviously, Two-Two knows, but she is just like Angel when it comes to things like this."

_They think we're guard dogs? Ugh, this is demeaning. _Brady whined.

_What about the whole 'vampire' thing? _I thought, ignoring Brady's comment.

"Max explained to them that we're sort of experiments too. And since they believe that, it won't be hard to keep up the charade." Edward explained.

Angel walked over to our group and put on her serious face. "We need help transporting them back." She stated. "Annie and the clones aren't great flyers for this long of a distance and the others aren't meant for running…well, other than Denver. He's decided to run along side you."

_The horse kid thinks he can keep up? More power to him. _Seth thought, his eyes trained on Angel as he thought it.

"Okay," Angel addressed us in an ordering voice. "Jacob, you have to take Will and Annie since they're both little. Brady, you take Two-Two because she's the next smallest. Seth, you take Kirby. Embry, you get Nuala. And Leah, you can carry Serenity when she gets tired of running. She says she can run with us, but I know she'll get tired in a few hours."

Various "okays" and "fine by mes" rung in my head and Angel nodded.

She joined the Flock in the air a few minutes later and Edward brought the children to me. He placed them on my back but I barely noticed the weight difference.

"Hold on to Will to keep him steady, okay Annie?" Edward asked. I felt her nodding with her movements. "It's a big responsibility…but I know you'll be able to handle it."

The three and a half year old held my now two month old son as if she were meant to do it. Guess the kid took pride in having a responsibility.

Edward's eyes twinkled as he went to join the other vampires, along with Serenity and Denver.

_I know that look. _I thought to him with worry. _You know something that I don't know. _

"Its not my place to tell." He murmured but I could hear him nonetheless.

I waited to take off until Nessie came and gave me a kiss on my wolf nose. It was our tradition since she was a young girl.

She walked over to me and buried her head in between my shoulder blade and inhaled deeply. "I thought we had lost him." She mumbled before leaning over to kiss Will's cheek. She smiled shyly at Annie before leaning forward and kissing me on the tip of my nose. "I love you."

I licked her face in response. She knew that I was just agreeing with her.

"Ew, dog slobber." She joked as she wiped her face.

"Hurry up, Nessie, we want to get home." Rosalie yelled from where the Cullens were waiting.

After Nessie joined them, it seemed like a minute before we were home again. Though it had actually taken the better part of a day to cross back over to the Washington border, it felt much shorter than the trip there.

The entire ride, Annie clung to Will and the fur on my back. It was comforting to feel a little girl on my back since it had been so long since Nessie was that age and my daughters were too independent already.

"They're home!" Collin yelled as we neared the Cullen Mansion.

We had an anxious waiting party by the time we actually entered the house.

Seth was the only wolf that stayed, as the others had other things to do, and soon it was just family and the new experiments left.

Bex had grown during the day we had been gone and looked nearly thirteen. That Double Hybrid thing was kicking in quickly and I worried for our seven month daughter. She was looking more and more like her mother everyday, though her skin was still dark like Nuahel's. Hopefully, it won't be long until she stops growing or else she'll be older than the rest of her family soon.

Emma, too, had grown and she looked two years old instead of two months. Her straight bronze hair had grown a fraction of an inch, but we would have to start monitoring her like we did to Nessie since they were both normal hybrids.

"Did Allie phase again?" I asked Ella, who had been watching the children with Collin. "She looks bigger." I added when she frowned.

"Yeah, just once." Ella admitted, Collin's arm wrapped around her. "She was outside with Bex when she thought she smelt something…I swear, that kid is the cutest puppy wolf."

Allison looked six months already and I cursed my werewolf gene. It seems like none of my kids would be normal. Even Will look a month older than he actually was, so I wondered if it was an accidental phasing or if his vampire traits were to blame. And here I thought I had one 'normal' child.

"You don't mind more house guests, do you?" Esme asked the whole Cullen/Flock/Black family. The experiments, who decided to call themselves the Crew since everyone else had a clever name, were standing around nervously.

"We should have a house set up for them in two days." Carlisle stated confidently.

"It took us that long to make the Black Mansion on La Push/Forks border and three days to make Edward and Bella's cottage." Rosalie added when everyone looked doubtful.

"Ooh, I already have an idea about what to do for the bedrooms…" Alice trailed off.

It was weird that she could see anyone from the School so much clearer than anyone in my family; mostly due to the fact that they were only 2% of whatever animal they were spliced with.

Alice's eyes snapped up to look at Max and she nodded. "I would looove to decorate your house too." She added, startling everyone.

"No, uh, that's not what I…" Max stuttered, before shaking her head. "I was actually wondering if Fang, Arian, and I could just make our room bigger. I love the Flock and all, but I need a little time with my family; especially after almost loosing them."

"Of course!" Esme nodded happily. She really was like a mother to everyone. "Do you want to put Anastasia in your room too? Angel mentioned something about her coming to live with the Flock instead of the Crew. I assumed that meant you wanted her."

"What?" Max asked in disbelief. "Why would we want to adopt her?"

"She is sort of yours…" Fang stated quietly, earning himself a glare from his wife. He held his hands up defensively. "All I'm saying is that Annie is your clone's daughter. Technically that makes you her mother since you have the same DNA as Maria."

"You can't be serious!" Max screeched. She seemed to calm down when she saw the truth and sincerity in Fang's eyes. "Do you…is this okay with you?" Max asked in a whisper.

"She has to go somewhere…" Fang stated. "might as well be with family."

"Jake," Nessie whispered to me, "lets go home."

I gathered Bex, Allie, Emma, and Will up and helped Nessie load them into my Rabbit that was still here since I had phased earlier.

It was hard to drag Will away from Annie and even Allie was crying when she was taken away from Arian. The children had been playing with colored blocks and seemed to be having too much fun to be separated from their playmates.

I also noticed that Bex seemed to be avoiding the Gasman. That I felt bad about. Until she grew so rapidly, the two had been the best of friends. Now that she was closer to Nudge and Ella's age, she didn't seem to want to have a guy friend even if they were the same age now.

That was exactly what happened to me and my sisters. The second they found friends their own age, they quit paying attention to me.

Entering our house, I felt a little spooked by the darkness of it. After being at the Cullen house, which was full of life, being alone with just my family was eerie. Now that my wife had been kidnapped, and my son too, it felt like danger was lurking on every corner.

* * *

**AN: This was a bit of a filler chapter, but it was needed. Did anyone catch the foreshadowing? **


	22. Identical No More

Chapter Twenty-One

Angel's POV

Bex, Nudge, and I were put in charge of keeping the Crew busy until the women vampires were done with the house. They had been decorating since the guys finished building the house three days ago and now it seemed like they were always going to be putting on the 'finishing' touches.

I didn't mind keeping the Crew out of the way though. Like I keep trying to tell Max, I was born to lead. Bex is the only one of us that still gets confused over who is the original me/Nudge and who are the clones, but we just help her out when we can.

Right now, we're about to make it a lot easier to tell me and my clone apart. Two-Two has decided that she wants to change her appearance since she is going to be the leader of the Crew. No one really objected to the idea since they didn't want the responsibility, so it was easy to take charge.

"Are you sure about this?" Nuala and Nudge asked at the same time. They were freaky like that, always talking in unison. Both girls were excited to have a sister though so they didn't care that they weren't actually twins.

The lady at the cashier looked at us funny, but we paid her little attention as we looked through the hair dye colors.

"The dye won't come out for six months." Bex said, trying to urge my clone not to dye her blonde hair brown. Personally, I wish she had gone with red or black to make more of a statement, but hey, the kid was set on it.

"I know that. And I'm not a kid." She said, spitting her tongue out at me. I simply giggled. I don't know why everyone always complained about the lack of privacy; having a mind reader around was fun. Though, three seemed to be a bit much.

"Ooh, if Two-Two can get her hair done, I want highlights!" Nudge squealed. She turned to her clone for confirmation. "Lets see…what do you like better; pink or purple?"

"Pink." Nuala replied quietly. "I've always liked the color pink."

"Me too!" Nudge exclaimed. "See? We have more in common than just looks…lets see, where is the pink…" She said as the two of them walked down the aisle in search of Nudge's hair dye.

"You aren't seriously going to let her get pink highlights, are you?" Bex asked and for a moment I thought it was Nessie in the store with us instead of her daughter. The two were so alike it was crazy, though Bex seemed to be almost caught up the Nessie physically so it was more obvious than when she was little.

"Of course I am." Two-Two and I replied. I caught her eye and we grinned.

"Nuala can get whatever she wants too." My clone stated, then looked at the rest of her Crew. "You all can change the way you look if you'd like."

"Can I get…green?" Kirby asked. Ah, our little blonde froggy. Twelve years old and so innocent. It makes me wonder how many experiments he had to go through, or if Sam was more sparing to him since he wasn't a complete success.

"Sure, but why?" I asked, trying to stay out of his head for once. I knew that Two-Two had a crush on him and it felt like invading.

"Green is my favorite color." He said plainly. "Plus it'll match my spots."

Kirby has pale green spots on random places of his body due to his frog DNA. Other than the slightly webbed hands and feet, I hardly ever notice that he isn't a normal human boy.

"What about you Denver?" Bex asked, addressing the 2% horse teenager. "What about a haircut?" I glanced at his long brown hair and was reminded of a picture I had seen of Seth before he started phasing.

Denver just shook his head stubbornly. Well, what do you expect from a fifteen year old? Besides, he was part horse; stubbornness was in his blood.

"Serenity?" I asked quietly. "You've been quiet, do you have something to say?"

Though she was fourteen and older than me, she hardly seemed like it. She was so closed in on herself that I wondered if she had received the most experimentation. Even her thoughts were a dull void of nothing but playing back old memories and thoughts. It was like she was just set on a loop.

"I am fine the way I am." Serenity stated and I caught a glimpse of a memory she hadn't remembered around me. A younger version of herself looking in a mirror for the first time and thinking about the human that she used to be.

"You weren't born this way, were you?" I asked, trying not to catch the attention of the others.

Serenity shook her head. _I was born to human parents and I lived with them until the day I was kidnapped. I was _normal _before the scientists decided to put a bunch of metal in my body to see if I could be the perfect robot weapon. _

"I'm sorry." I whispered sincerely. If I thought our lives were bad sometimes, at least this was all we've ever known. "What about your family? We could have the Cullens look for them…"

Serenity shook her head. _The died the night I was taken. An Eraser got too close to my father and attacked. My mother stabbed the Eraser who did it and she was taken down as well…no, the Crew is my family now._

"We found the dye!" Nudge said happily. "I got hot pink and Nuala decided to get blue because she said Denver complimented one of her blue shirts once." She threw her hand over her mouth when she saw Denver standing right there with pink tinted cheeks. "Um, yeah, forget I said that…"

"Can you go grab some of the green?" Bex asked. "Kirby wants to try some out."

And so the 'becoming a better you' plan went into action...I just hope Max doesn't kill us for it.


	23. Crew Headquarters

Chapter Twenty-Two

Max's POV

When the girls returned from their outing and I saw what they had done, I was furious.

No. Furious was definitely too slacking of a word. No, what I was looking for was a much fiercer, painfully angry adjective. Furious didn't even begin to cover it.

I sent Angel, Nudge, and Bex out to do one thing. One thing! 'Keep the Crew busy.' And what do they do? Go out and buy hair dye.

And, as if that wasn't enough, they let Bex (who although she looked thirteen, was only SEVEN MONTHS OLD) dye their hair for them.

Kirby seemed to have gotten the worst of her hairstyling attempts, bless his soul. His beautiful blonde hair had random bits of green in it. It looked almost as if he had run around in the woods and gotten leaves stuck in his hair. He didn't seem to mind though, and I wondered if his frog brain was fully functioning or not. Then again, he was only twelve. Gazzy at that age was just as unobservant.

Two-Two's naturally blonde curls were permanently a light brown that almost matched the color of Bella's and she was more than thrilled about the fact that Bex had accidentally forgotten to put a chunk of her hair in the aluminum foil. She _loved_ the fact that she had a blonde chunk behind her left ear.

Nuala and Nudge, whom I still couldn't tell apart unless I saw one glance at their boyfriend worriedly, were getting the brunt of my wrath though. They were fifteen! They were supposed to be the ones I could trust when sent out with the rest of the children. They weren't supposed to come back with pink and blue streaks throughout their hair.

I heard someone laughing and I turned to glare at Edward.

"And what is so funny?" I asked, turning my gaze away from the four hair dyed children to glare at the mind reading vampire.

"Nothing. Its just, you really sound like a mother." He said, trying to lighten the mood. I continued to glare, but it softened a bit as I thought of Arian asleep in Fang's arms next to Edward. Fang's lips turned upwards in a smirk.

"I am a mother." I said, defensively.

Edward shook his head. "I know. Its just…Bella, and Nessie for that matter, don't have the natural instincts necessary to discipline their children. They leave it up to Jake and myself to take care of it. Its refreshing to hear those thoughts in someone else around here."

"What about Esme?" Nuala asked, her blue streaks catching my attention more than her words and I had to force myself to calm down. "I thought she was like the mother around here? 'Cause, I mean, I've never had a mother and I don't know exactly how it goes about, but from what I see, she's the mommy to all of you experiments…but I mean, she's not that old so I don't know if her genes have stopped completely. Maybe she can have her own little experiment baby someday."

Edward cleared his throat and I had to remind myself that the Crew didn't know about vampires and werewolves. All they knew was that the Pack were like a newer breed of Erasers and the Cullens weren't 100% human either.

"Esme _is _like our mother." Edward said, trying not to talk loud enough for her to hear at the Crew's new home half a mile away. "But she merely scolds us when we misbehave. She is more of a loving mother than anything else. There's just too much love and patience in her heart."

Angel started sobbing and I turned to look at her. She was seated beside Gazzy, Iggy, Denver, Serenity, and Bex (those not in trouble for the hair dye…well, Bex was, but her punishment was up to Jake and Nessie) on the couch.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked, looking at my eleven year old 'baby.'

"This is all my fault." She sobbed. "I was the one who wanted Two-Two to change her look so we wouldn't confuse people anymore. Its my fault that everyone is in trouble."

"Shh…" Gazzy muttered, wrapping his arm around his little sister soothingly. "Max knows that you didn't mean to." He whispered, then grinned. "Besides, everyone knows that she'll calm down in a few minutes and this won't even be a problem anymore."

Angel nodded and wiped her eyes. "Thanks, Gaz." She whispered back to him.

Suddenly, Emmett came through the front door with a huge smile on his face. "The Crew Headquarters is officially done." He announced and I could see everyone's moods perk up a bit.

"Are we…still in trouble?" Kirby asked quietly, his throat bulging nervously.

I sighed and shook my head. "You guys just need to run things by someone older before you do something so permanent." I said, upset that I couldn't give them the speech I had run through in my mind earlier. But one look in Kirby's big green eyes and I was mush. Nudge didn't teach him Bambi Eyes, did she?

We all walked together to the CH house. I knew the men had put a lot of labor into the house and the women had designed each room specifically for each member.

The living room was similar to the one in the Cullen's house; a wall of windows and white painted walls on the other side. Actually, the kitchen was much the same design as the Cullen's house too. The only thing that was changed about the first level of the house was that there was a giant oak tree growing out of the middle of the room.

The next floor held Denver, Kirby, and Serinity's rooms.

Denver's room had wooden paneling on the walls, a soundproof floor for his hooves, and a medium sized bed in the corner. His eyes lit up when he saw the brown flooring and what I would consider an itchy yellow bedspread. If you closed your eyes, you could feel that this had a 'barn' quality to it, but without making it too overwhelming for someone who had never set foot in one like Denver.

Kirby's room was like nothing I'd ever seen. A huge green waterbed took up most of the room and the carpet was a rich blue color, but otherwise, it was a normal boy's room. It reminded me of a lily pad on water and I saw Edward nod out of the corner of my eye. Aw, that was so sweet of the room designer, to try and make him feel more comfortable.

Serenity's room had My Little Pony pink wallpaper, a normal sized version of a toddler's bed, and stuffed animals everywhere. I didn't understand why she was designed a little girl's room when she was much older, but I noticed the look of admiration and appreciation in her eyes. She was truly speechless.

"Its all the same." She whispered to no one in particular. "Its just like my room at home was."

Then I understood. Serenity was the only one of us who wasn't born as an experiment. She had had a home. She had had a live and a family who loved her from the first time she opened her eyes as a baby. That nearly brought tears to my eyes as I thought of how much work went into making this room into a replica of the one she remembered from before the School.

"Well, uh, on to Two-Two and Nuala's room." Bella said, trying to hold back non-shedding vampire tears. The children's approval of their rooms was stirring something in all of us.

When we reached the third floor, I couldn't help it, I gasped.

Remember how I said that there was a tree going up through the house? Yeah, well, it went up through the sky roof in the girl's room and into the sky. It was simply marvelous to look at.

"I know you guys weren't on the run like the Flock," Esme spoke up, "but from what they've said, sleeping in trees is the place where they feel the most comfortable…"

Though the two girls had their own parts of the space for their closets and dressers, the sleeping area was conjoined. Under one of the massive branches that was too short to reach the roof, there sat matching beds for the girls.

We all took turns laying down on their beds and I couldn't deny that it was something else. I could see just past the leaves on the tree, and if the night was clear, I would be able to see the stars from the bed. Looking at Two-Two and Nuala's faces, I could tell that they had reached the same conclusion.

We left the Crew to enjoy their new house and returned to the Cullen's house where the Flock had taken up permanent residence since Jake and his family had moved out. I was settling Arian in his crib next to Annie's when I felt the back of my neck stand on end.

"Would you quit doing that, Fang." I muttered, feeling warm breath on my neck. I wasn't playing into his games tonight.

"Doing what?" Fang asked, coming into the room. A second later, he was growling and my eyes widened. If it wasn't my husband, then who was standing behind me?


	24. Familiar Face

_Previously: Max's POV If it wasn't my husband, then who was standing behind me?_

Chapter Twenty-Three

Fang's POV

I growled when I walked into my family's room. Standing behind Max was a man that wasn't me. He was so close, I bet she could feel his breath on her neck. I let out another growl as I thought this.

The man moved backwards from Max, still keeping his back to me, and I fought the urge to ring his neck…whoever he was.

No one gets that close to my wife and child (children, I added mentally; thinking about how Anastasia was now ours) and lives to tell about it.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked, wondering why no one else had noticed him sneaking in the house. We were surrounded by vampires for crying out loud! Didn't one of them pick up his unfamiliar scent?

_Or maybe it didn't smell out of the ordinary. _I thought, eying his broad shoulders and dark hair. It couldn't be…

"Aw, don't tell me you don't remember me, Fangy?" The man asked in a teasing tone. There was something familiar about him, though I couldn't quite place it.

Max stiffened when she heard the man talk though and that had me worried. I could FEEL her anxiety and I was ready to punch this man in the face for making her feel that way.

"I can't really blame you, though, Fangy." The man said. "Look at what you've become! You have the Flock, you have a beautiful wife, and cute kids too." He continued, sounding resentful. "If I had all this going for me, I'd want to forget my past too."

"I don't understand." I said murderously. "How did you get in here? Who are you?"

The man turned around and I blinked in shock. It couldn't be…

He grinned and I knew he knew that I knew who he was.

"I see you haven't changed a bit." He lied. The last time I saw him, we were six and living at the School. "Good to see you still have the same scowl as ever."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, half in disbelief that he was standing here in my bedroom and half angry that he was standing here in my bedroom.

He paid my question no attention and kept on with his preplanned speech. "You know, you are a hard experiment to find, Fangy." He said, staring at his hand as if he were bored but I knew he was flexing his muscles under his long sleeved shirt and preparing to morph.

"What about the rest of us?" Max asked. "You don't care enough to search us down?"

Only she and I knew that she was trying to distract him; to the outside world, it sounded like she was offended. She had to get him paying attention to her and away from me. Though Max was a great fighter, taking a life was something that she hated to think about. I, on the other hand, was born to kill the man in front of me…or so They had been telling me my whole life.

The man chuckled. "Aw, now Maximum, I'm hurt that you would think you could trick me."

He kept his eyes on me the whole time, but continued in a softer tone. "But, to be honest, Fangy here is my priority. I'll get back to you later, once its finished."

He didn't seem bothered in the slightest that Max was behind his back and had perfect range to strike him if she chose to.

Okay, so he was on to our scheme; what now?

"Little Fangy, or…should I say Alexander?" The man said and I growled. No one had called me that in a long time. He smiled, loving the fact that he was pushing my buttons. "Touchy, touchy, Alex. I was only teasing."

Max stared at me in shock and I knew that I had so much to explain to her…but not now.

"What do you want, Nickolas?" I asked, hoping that Max FELT all the apologies running through my mind.

Now I know most of you must be wondering who in the world Nickolas is…well, it's a long story. One with much worse an ending than I thought it had. Even Max didn't know the whole story, but the longer we kept talking, the more she would figure out on her own.

Nick coming back now was not a good thing. Actually, Nick coming back at all was so unexpected that I almost wondered if this was all a dream.

Again, Nick ignored me. "Like I've said before, you've done well for yourself…but this is supposed to be _my _life." He said, taking a step closer to me.

He smiled devilishly, pulling his lips back until he exposed his teeth. His razor sharp teeth glistened in the moonlight, making him look more lethal than I'd ever seen him.

"What did they do to you, Nick?" I asked, semi concerned about the man in front of me. Even though he was a danger to everything important to me, I still felt pity for him deep down.

That caught him off guard. He hadn't expected me to say that. He probably only came here for a fight. Well, that would have to wait. I needed some answers.

"After the Flock left with Jeb," Nick spat the words, "those that were left at the School were experimented on even more than before. They were so afraid to loose another test subject that they doubled our security.

"I was in the same room as Ari when he was injected with wolf DNA. He howled in pain and then, without a warning, the scientist used the same needle to inject me with it too."

The man looked disgusted. "I already had wings and they wanted to add being an Eraser to it too?" He asked, more to himself than to me. He was sidetracked from attacking me though so I strategized as he talked.

He closed his eyes, remembering something, and I took that moment to move. I had his arms pinned behind him before he had a chance to morph his claws. Now, even if he did morph, he couldn't harm me or Max.

"I'll ask you one more time…what are you doing here?" I asked with lead in my voice, gripping his arms tighter behind his back.

"What? Can't a man visit his brother without there needing to be a reason?" Nick asked. "Though, how I could call you my brother after what you did to me is crazy."

I FELT Max's shock and pain and comprehension all swirling around and I took a deep breath.

"It was an accident, Nick…if I had known…" I said, knowing he wouldn't believe me even if it was the truth. I loosened my grip on his wrists and he shook out his shoulders angrily.

"Accident? Was it an accident when you took the one thing that kept me going in that hell hole and then left with her? Was it an accident when you pretended to be me so you could join the Flock?" Nick asked angrily. "Was it an accident when you _killed me?_"

From the look on her face, Max had finally put two and two together, as I knew she would from all the things he was saying, and she stared at me with wide eyes.

_Please don't hate me. _I thought to her, trying desperately to convey my thoughts even though our bond only allowed us to FEEL what the other is feeling and not actual words.


	25. Family Meeting

Chapter Twenty-Four

Nessie's POV

Everyone had been tense around here since Nickolas Ravenwood, Fang's twin!, showed up in the middle of the night and tried to kill Fang. That had taken so much explaining that even I'm still confused about everything.

* * *

_Flashback_

_A howl in the dead of night woke me from my sleep. Jake stiffened in bed beside me and listened for his wolf brother to howl again. _

_One howl meant 'Cullen trouble,' two howls meant 'vampire scent.'_

_When the second howl didn't come, the two of us jumped out of bed and quickly dressed. I went to wake up Bex to tell her to keep an eye on the triplets while we went to check out whatever was happening at the Cullen Mansion. She nodded sleepily and pulled her blanket into the nursery to keep her warm coziness._

_Jake decided not to phase, which only slowed our running down a minute's worth of time instead of the three minutes it would take him to un-change and then re-change at the house._

_Seth was patrolling outside the house. He was the one who had signaled for Jake. Angel must have contacted him. _

_When we got there, the Flock, as well as the Cullens, were all wide awake and sitting on the couches in the living room. I counted heads and found fifteen people in the room. That was strange. Maybe I miscounted. There were supposed to be only fourteen, minus Annie and Arian. _

_I looked at the faces again as Jake and I entered the front door and I did a double take. Two Fangs standing side-by-side and each being put under Jasper's 'happy gas.' I could tell by the way they were both not scowling._

"_You found Fang's clone too?" Jake asked, confused. _

_The Fang with a five o'clock shadow at three in the morning growled. He looked more masculine (if that was even possible for someone who already looked like Fang) than the cleanshaven one closest to Max, but the two shared a lot of similarities. Those dark eyes and olivie skin, as well as having dark black hair. _

_But the more I looked, the more differences I found. Though Fang II seemed taller, Fang had slightly wider shoulders. Fang II's hair was slightly lighter too; more coal black than jet black like Fang's. And the new teenager was shaking his hand constantly, something that normal Fang wouldn't be able to master considering he pretty much never moves. The boy is a statue. _

"_I am not a clone." Fang II stated angrily. "I was the original!" _

_Fang rolled his eyes. "Technically, we both were originals." He said calmly. Yup, definitely Fang._

"_Twins?" I asked in disbelief. That would explain the differences. _

_Everyone else seemed to find this old news; or at least the Flock did. My vampire family didn't look shocked about it though. _

_Fang nodded. "This is Nickolas Ravenwood." He pointed to the boy beside him._

"_Wait, I thought your name was Nick?" Esme asked. "That's the name you gave the school board. You seemed pretty set on using it…"_

_Nickolas grinned and Fang tried not to look at the smugness on his brother's face. "You missed me, didn't you?" He asked. "Maybe even regretted killing me?" He prompted and I gasped. _

"_Can someone please explain this?" Jake asked, looking at Edward for help. _

_Nudge looked eager to be the one to explain and she took off like a rocket. "Well, when we were at the School, Nick was part of our group and Alex, aka Fang, wasn't considered worthy of being with the other Avian experiments so we didn't really see him. I joined the group when I was like three so I was still kinda young, but apparently Nick, Iggy, and Max literally grew up together._

"_When Fang and Nick were six, they were told to fight, like literally fight, each other. Fight to the death. Anyways, Fang won because at the time, Nick was a weaker fighter so he didn't stand as much of a chance during their four day fight. The scientists were mean to make them fight, especially because they were twins, but They wanted to see if their perfect little weapons had what it took to go all the way._

"_But I mean, they were just six years old. Fang didn't really understand why it was wrong 'cause that's how the scientists had always taught him. Kill or be killed, and I mean, that's kind of our motto too but we at least _try _to find a way to make things not so black and white. Grey area, right Max?" _

_Max turned to Nudge and nodded, though she was refusing to look at either Nick or Fang at this point and it was blatantly obvious to everyone._

"_How are you alive then?" Carlisle asked, astounded. Apparently, he forgot the part that the Flock was always talking about where the School brought back Max's little brother Ari to life two times. _

"_The School." Nick replied, his voice was deeper than Fang's too, but that was probably because he was trying to sound threatening. I couldn't be sure. "They spent three years reviving me, but by that time, the Flock had already left with Jeb and I was left prisoner without anyone that I knew." _

"_And the Eraser part?" Max asked quietly. "You and Ari were changed together?" _

_Nick nodded, though Max still didn't look in his direction. "They tried to implant the DNA for a year, but it was Ari's blood that really made it stick in my system. That's why they used the same needle to inject it in us both."_

"_Ari was three and I was ten when it happened." Nick went on to explain. "It took four years, but we finally mastered the art of morphing from human to Eraser. But by that time, Jeb was back."_

"_Jeb left his three year old son at the School?" Rosalie asked, getting furious. _

_Most of the Flock nodded, most of them with guilty looks on their faces, and my aunt got even angrier. _

_As much as Rosalie wanted to be human and have children, she wanted those that were already in the world to be taken care of twice as much. I bet she would make a great adoptive parent if it weren't for the whole 'kid smells like dinner' thing. _

"_You need to forgive Fang, Nick." Angel spoke up, eying Nick with wide eyes. "I know we never got to meet before 'cause I wasn't born when all of this happened, but I know that you love your brother. And you and I both know that you wouldn't feel as angry if the Flock hadn't left. Fang didn't do that, Jeb did."_

_Nick scowled and I could see Jasper trying to get a better grip on the boy's mood. "What about killing me? That's just forgiven around here, like it was nothing?" He asked angrily._

"_I killed Ari." Max admitted quietly. The non Flock people looked shocked. She had named her son after her half brother and she had been the one to kill him? It didn't make sense. _

"_The School brought him back, but the image was still in my head. It haunts me in my sleep. I see his face everywhere." Max said in just barely a whisper. _

_She finally looked at the Fangs and Nick met her gaze. "I know what my husband is feeling, trust me on that. The guilt, the shame, the need to try and forget about the twisted things that we did…" _

_All eyes were on her, but she ignored them. When Fang went to hold her hand, she didn't stop him, but she still kept eye contact with Nick. _

"_We were just kids when all this happened, playing cat and mouse for the School. We were all just Their puppets, don't you see?" She asked, trying to convey the message to her brother-in-law. _

_That was what broke through to Nick. He promised to stop trying to justify his feelings to kill Fang and let them go. _

_End Flashback_

* * *

Nick has become like a part of the Flock, or as much as someone can be after they tried to kill one of its members, and they've been working through their issues. Part of me wonders if this will be a mistake down the road, but I push that part aside as I lean against my husband's bare chest. Things couldn't change much more, could they?

* * *

**AN: Well, thats the end of this story. **

**Don't get too disappointed now young readers. Due to the fact that I am addicted to the way this story is shaping up, I cannot give up on it. I am making another sequel to this (I would just continue on this one, but from here, there are big changes and it deserves its own story, so bare with me.) It's called "Imprints, Soul Mates, and Other Halves" so please check it out. :) **

**THANK YOU TO MY REVIEWERS! You guys really kept me going on this and gave me inspiration when I needed it. (And to those who don't review, but still read my stories, I thank you as well...)**


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